
Class _B y 3X^5, 
Book_JHN5 

Copyright N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; 




M&ff- ££&^US <fZt<rvcU 



Jltarp Clarfee J8tinb 



Her Childhood, Girlhood, Married Life, Religious Experience and 

Activity, together with the Story of Her Labors in Behalf 

of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society 

of the Methodist Episcopal Church 



Pi> Her Cijttbren 



c 



published for the 

Woman's Foreign Missionary Society 

by J. Newton Nind 

355 Dearborn St., Chicago, III. 



t c ^0^3 



U3RARY of CONGRESS 

Two Copies Rec«!yed 

JAN II 1907 

Copyright Entry t 

CLASS A XXc, No, 



Copyright, 1906 

by 
J. Newton Nind 









To the Noble Women with whom she labored 

and to the cause of Foreign Missions 

for which with them she prayed and sacrificed, 

this volume is dedicated by 

The Authors 



PREFACE 



This volume has been prepared at the request of many in the 
wide circle in which our mother was known and loved. Beyond the 
desire to place in the hands of these friends and co-laborers a com- 
prehensive sketch of her life, and to preserve in permanent form an 
account of much with which she had to do during that busy life, we 
trust that we are contributing something towards the perpetuation of 
the influence which mother exerted. 

The volume has been prepared in the midst of many duties which 
have pressed upon the authors in the year following mother's going 
away, and we are conscious, now that the book is completed, that it 
falls far short of being what it should have been. This is a com- 
posite work, and as its preparation proceeded we found it possible to 
include within its pages much which had come from mother's own 
busy pen during her many years of activity. Her contribution to its 
pages, it will be found, is greater than that of any of the accredited 
authors, and through what she herself has written is reflected more 
clearly than anything which we may have contributed, her spirit and 
her every day life. 

We desire to acknowledge the assistance and the encouragement 
which has been given to us by the noble women with whom she 
worked and prayed in behalf of the cause for which this book is 
published, and to which the proceeds of its sale have been dedicated. 

It is not only our hope that the volume will perpetuate the mem- 
ory of our mother but that its sale will contribute materially to the 
cause she loved so much and for which she labored during so many 
years of her life. 

In this hope, this labor of love is respectfully submitted by 

The Authors. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER. PAGE, 

I. Early Family History I 

II. Early Life 5 

III. Courtship and Marriage 9 

IV. Early Married Life 12 

V. Into the Light — My Experience 18 

VI. The New Home in Minnesota 24 

VII. Woman's Foreign Missionary Society 29 

VIII. Later Labors 37 

IX. Elected to the M. E. General Conference 41 

X. Around the World — Japan 51 

XI. Travels in Japan 61 

XII. Around the World Continued — China 69 

XIII. With Her Daughter in Foochow 79 

XIV. Chinese Ceremonies 85 

XV. Labors in China 89 

XVI. Studies in China 95 

XVII. Celebration of Her Seventieth Birthday 105 

XVIII. Strait Settlements and India ill 

XIX. Experiences in India 117 

XX. In Calcutta and Cawnpore 123 

XXI. In the Mountains of India 129 

XXII. Homeward Bound 139 

XXIII. Home Again , 143 

XXIV. Her Eightieth Summer 149 

XXV. The Final Events of a Useful Life 156 

XXVI. The Final Obsequies 163 

XXVII. Her Bequests 165 

XXVIII. In Memoriam— by Mrs. C. S. Winchell 169 

XXIX. A Tribute— by Mrs. Charlotte F. Wilder 173 

XXX. In Loving Memory — by Mary E. Houser 179 

XXXI. Tributes by the Church Press 185 

XXXII. Individual Tributes 197 

XXXIII. Tributes by Organizations 207 

XXXIV. A Sermon by Mary Clarke Nind 211 

XXXV. A Religious Experience, , 219 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Mary Clarke Nind Frontispiece '■ 

This is from a photograph of Mrs. Nind taken about 1900, and in the 
opinion of the authors of this book is the best likeness of her as she was 
in the latter years of her life. 

Facing Page 

Ebenezer and Louisa Ann Clarke 2 

Parents of Mary Clarke. Louisa Ann Clarke died in August, 1857, and 
the picture here given is from a painting which was in the possession 
of Mary Clarke Nind at the time of her death. The portrait of Ebenezer 
Clarke is from a photograph taken several years later. 

Birth Place of Mary Clarke, Snares Brook, Wathamstow, 

England 6 J 

This picture is a reproduction of the house in which she was born, made 
from a pencil sketch, and largely from memory. The building has been 
considerably changed, although it still stands, and is shown in the suc- 
ceeding picture. 

Snares Brook, Wathamstow, England 8 j 

This picture is from a photograph taken in recent years, but the scene 
has changed but little during the past century. The house shown upon 
the left is the one in which Mary Clarke was born, altered from the 
structure shown in the preceding picture. 

Scenes of Mary Clarke's Girlhood io 

Wood Street Lecture Room, Wathamstow, in which she first taught Sunday 
School ; the Congregational Church at Wathamstow, with which she first 
united ; Mission School, where she first imbibed her interest in foreign 
missions. 

James G. and Mary C. Nind 12 j 

This picture is reproduced from an old daguerrotype made soon after the 
marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Nind, and is the earliest known picture of Mary 
C. Nind. 

The First Home, in St. Charles, 111 16 

This is the house in which James G. and Mary C. Nind made their first 
home in 1852. The house still stands in St. Charles on the original site, 
and has been only slightly changed. The one-story wing on the right 
has been added. In this house all the children of Mary C. Nind were 
born. 

Congregational Church, St. Charles, 111 22 

This is the edifice in which the congregation worshiped with which James 
G. and Mary C. Nind first united after their marriage. It was a schism 
in this congregation which resulted in the withdrawal from the Congre- 
gational denomination of Mary C. Nind in 1864. 

Methodist Church, St. Charles, 111 26 

In this edifice the first Methodist society with which Mary C. Nind be- 
came connected at that time worshiped. Both this and the Congrega- 
tional Church shown in the preceding illustration are still standing and 
have been little changed in the past fifty years. 

The New Home in Winona, Minn 28 

This house was built in 1867. The photograph from which the illustra- 



tion was made was only recently taken, but the house is as originally 
erected. 

First Methodist Church, Winona, Minn 30 

This is the edifice which the First Methodist Episcopal society occupied 
when Mary C. Nind removed to Winona, and with which she connected 
herself. The church has long since been replaced by a larger and hand- 
somer structure in another location. 

Lucy E. Prescott (Vane) and Mary Clarke Nind 32 ^ 

These pictures were taken about the time they began their labors together 
in behalf of foreign missions in 1872. 

James G. Nind 36 */ 

This is from a photograph which was taken only a short time preceding 

his death on May 7, 1885. / 

Mary Clarke Nind 36 

This is a picture which was taken about the time of her greatest activity 
and soon after the death of her husband. 

First Women to be Elected to the General Conference of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church 40 / 

These pictures were first published in connection with an historical arti- 
cle printed in the Central Christian Advocate of Kansas City, Mo., in 
1904. Of the five women whose portraits are shown only Mrs. Angie F. 
Newman and Mrs. Elizabeth B. Van Kirk survive at the date of this 
publication, December, 1906. 

Lucy Prescott Vane 54 / 

This is a recent picture of Mrs. Vane, who was so long a co-worker with 
Mary C. Nind. After her marriage to Mr. Vane, of Evanston, 111., she 
relinquished her labors in behalf of Foreign Missions, but has ever since 
been active in other good works. She now makes her home during most 
of the year in California. 

In a Sedan Chair 60 

This picture was taken in China in June, 1895, while Mrs. Nind was 
making her tour around the world, and illustrates the manner in which 
she traveled a part of the time while in China. 

With a Helper and Interpreter in Japan and India 68 

These pictures are selected from a number of similar characteristic por- 
traits taken of Mrs. Nind during her journey around the world. 

Memorial Window in the Nind-Lacy Memorial Chapel, 
Foo Chow, China 86 v 

This window was placed in the chapel by the children of Mary C. Nind 
after her death. The Chapel was built through the efforts of William 
H. Lacy and Emma Nind Lacy as a memorial to their respective mothers. 
It is largely built of material brought from America, and is said to be 
the best built church edifice in Foo Chow. Mrs. Nind was a generous con- 
tributor towards the erection of the structure. It has recently been com- 
pleted. 

Illuminated Scroll Presented to Mary C. Nind iick 

This was presented to her upon the occasion of the celebration of her 
seventieth birthday, which occurred in Foo Chow, China. It was the gift 
of her admirers among the Chinese connected with the mission work in 
that city. A translation of the scroll forms the subject of the follow- 
ing illustration. The scroll, or banner, is about a yard wide and two 
yards long and the border is daintily done in many colors. The lettering, 
of course, is hand painted. 

Mary Clarke Nind Deaconess Home, Singapore 118 

Built through the efforts and liberality of Mary Clarke Nind. 

Birth Place of Ebenezer Clarke 138 

Ebenezer Clarke was the father of Mary Clarke Nind, and this quaint 



old English house was frequently visited by Mary Clarke during her girl- 
hood and upon the occasion of her several visits to England. 

Mary C. Nind and Rev. George B. Nind 150 

This picture was taken at Cambridge, Mass, May 30, 1905, and was the 
last picture taken of "Mother'' Nind. It shows her in a characteristic 
attitude while playfully rebuking her son for some of his shortcomings. 

House of Mrs. Millard in Littleton, Mass _ 156 

This is the house in which Mrs. Nind and Lydia P. Nind, daughter of 
George B. Nind, were sleeping at the time the final summons came. 
They occupied the room on the second floor at the right-hand corner. 
The building was completely destroyed by the fire. 

Wesley Church, Minneapolis, Minn 162 

In the upper right-hand corner is shown also the Centenary Church, 
together with the church parsonage, which was the original home of the 
present Wesley society. In the will which Mrs. Nind left, and which was 
drawn while she was living in Minneapolis and attending Centenary 
Church, she indicated her desire to be buried from that church. She 
named those whom she desired to act as her pallbearers, all prominent 
members of that congregation. She survived all of the eight gentlemen 
named with one exception. 

Floral Decorations in Cass Avenue Church, Detroit, Mich .... 166 

This picture was taken after the Memorial Services which were held in 
that church on September 11, 1905. 

Lydia P. Nind 168 

Daughter of George B. Nind, and whose life went out with that of her 
grandmother on September 2, 1905. She was born January 12, 1893, and 
was left motherless on December 26, 1897. 

For One Gone Home — A Poem by Emily Huntington Miller. . 172 

This poem was first published in the Woman's Missionary Friend. The 
bond of friendship was very close between Mrs. Nind and Mrs. Miller. 

Cass Avenue Methodist Church, Detroit, Mich 178 

The last church home of Mary C. Nind, and in which the principal 
memorial service was held. 

Early Pastors of Mary C. Nind 198 

Rev. S. M. Griffith was the pastor of the Methodist church in St. Charles, 
111., with which Mary C. Nind first united. Rev. Chauncy Hobart and 
Rev. William McKinley were successively pastors of the First Methodist 
Church in Winona, Minn., during the period when her early activities in 
behalf of Foreign Missions were developed. 

Mary C. Nind and Lydia P. Nind 206 

This is a snap-shot picture, considerably enlarged, taken in September, 
1902, in front of the Wesleyan Home at Newton, Mass., of which Lydia 
Nind was then an inmate. 

Children of Mary C. Nind 214 

Louisa M. Nind, of Detroit, Mich. ; J. Newton Nind, of Chicago, 111. ; 
Emma Nind Lacy, of Shanghai, China, and George B. Nind, of Funchal, 
Madeira Island. 



MARY CLARKE NIND 



A MEMORIAL 



CHAPTER I 

EARLY FAMILY HISTORY 

In the course of the world's history eighty years is but a short 
period, but when we consider the beginnings of an individual life 
just ended eighty years seems a long time. 

Old and large as London was then, it was without many of 
those features which make it such a wonderful city today. Those 
were the days before the use of steam and electricity as motive 
power, before the invention of the sewing machine, the telegraph 
and the telephone, when even the modern postal system was still in 
its infancy. 

About six miles in a northeasterly direction from that part of 
London known as "The City" is the town of Walthamstow x the 
birthplace of Mary Clarke. Mary had four brothers and one sister, 
all of whom except one brother, Alfred Clarke, have passed away. 
Upon him we must depend for much of the information concerning 
their ancestry and her early life, and this may possibly best be told 
in his own language: 

"The ancestry of Mary Clarke on her father's side were Hugue- 
nots, and came over to England from France about the year 1685, 
when the edict of Nantes, which granted them their personal and 
religious liberty, was revoked. This was about a century ago. 
Mary's paternal grandfather was quite an old Puritan, and lived to 
the age of 93. At family worship, at night, he would pray so long 
extemporaneously that the younger members of the circle would be 



2 Mary Clarke Nind 

left so fast asleep on their knees they would not awaken till they 
heard the clatter of knives and forks at the supper which followed. 

"The maternal grandfather was a brass founder and an expert 
in the manufacture of bells. He was also a lover of music. 

"Mary's father was a good man of business, a staunch Non- 
Conformist, a thoughtful, argumentative platform speaker by no 
means excitable, an associate of Cobden, Bright, Edward Miall, 
and took a great interest in the repeal of the Corn Laws and 
kindred subjects. He was one of the first successful advocates and 
agitators who accomplished the abolition of church rates in his own 
neighborhood and helped much in that cause till it was successful 
throughout the British Empire. He early allied himself with the 
advocates of teetotalism and was for many years active in promot- 
ing the cause of temperance in England. His philanthropies 
included the building of model houses for the working classes, and 
the latter years of his business life were devoted to the management 
of these properties — for what was designed to be a contribution to 
the comfort of the working people was based on business principles 
and proved to be a profitable investment. 

"Mary's mother was a clever, energetic, vivacious woman, an 
entertaining conversationalist. She was fond of music and was a 
splendid housewife. She was endowed with indomitable persever- 
ance and was a fond mother, but a good disciplinarian. Mary was 
the fourth child, and from the fact that our mother was not consid- 
ered sufficiently well to stand the strain of business responsibilities 
and the care of the two younger brothers, they were nursed away 
from home until they were about six years of age. They therefore 
saw little of the childhood of Mary, for when they returned to the 
parental roof Mary was at a boarding school, to which they sent 
her when she returned home to take her share of responsibility in 
the business at Snare's Brook. 

"One of my first recollections of going out with her was in 
1838, on the occasion of the illuminations on the evening of the 
day when Queen Victoria was crowned. We drove to the west end 
of London in an open vehicle, the better to get a view of the effect, 



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MR am/ MRS. EBENEZER CLARKE 

Parents of Mary Clarke Nind 



Early Family History 3 

and Mary was so engrossed with the sight that she allowed a shawl, 
which in those days were worn, to be stolen from her back without 
noticing its disappearance. We looked upon Mary as a good- 
natured, vivacious, happy-go-lucky girl, fond of Sunday School 
work and of religious gatherings, but often getting into trouble for 
not mending her stockings and keeping her clothes in repair. She 
was fond of vocal music, a fondness which she inherited from her 
mother, as did three other members of the family. But two of her 
brothers, the eldest and the youngest, were not good at that art. 
Neither was the father. 

"Of the grandmothers on either side no information can be 
gleaned as they died before the only living member of the family 
was born. 

"Mary had a bosom friend in the person of Miss Mary Moffat, 
daughter of Robert Moffat, the missionary, and who afterwards 
became the wife of David Livingstone, the African explorer. Miss 
Moffat was educated at the school for missionaries' daughters 
which has been established in Walthamstow, a portion of which is 
shown in one of the illustrations which I am able to furnish. A part 
of the building has been converted into shops and the building 
shown is a truant school, the mission school having been removed 
to a more appropriate district." 

Walthamstow, in which Mary Clarke was born, on October 9, 
1825, had in those days all the characteristics of a country town. 
The houses for the most part stood within ample grounds with open 
fields between. Now, however, rows of working men's cottages 
have filled up almost all available space. But the house in which 
Mary Clarke was born, in a locality known as Snare's Brook, being 
within the borders of Epping Forest, a national preserve, has not 
lost its rural aspect. It faces a pretty sheet of water called "Eagle 
Pond." 

The house itself is slightly altered, being now exclusively a 
residence, altho when Mary Clarke was born it was both a residence 
and a place of business. Ebenezer Clarke, the father, had a flour- 
ishing business in groceries, dry goods and millinery as well as a 



4 Mary Clarke Nind 

livery. His clerks rode about the country for miles in many direc- 
tions taking orders and delivering goods. In those days, too, when 
the stage coach was the only public conveyance, there was great 
demand for horses and vehicles to go up to London and elsewhere 
so that his Kvery was an important branch of his business. Mrs. 
Clarke superintended the dry goods and millinery departments. 



CHAPTER II 

EARLY LIFE 

It was into a Christian home, already blessed with one daughter 
and two sons, that Mary Clarke was born. Two more sons follow- 
ing made up a happy half dozen children. The piety of the home 
and the regular and reverent attendance upon the services at the 
Congregational Church, to which the parents belonged, were early 
productive in Mary's life. At five years of age, quite alone she 
gave her heart to the Lord, whom she loved and served throughout 
her long life. At twelve years old she was a Sabbath School 
teacher. At fourteen, the youngest age at which it was customary 
to receive into church fellowship, she united with the church on 
profession of faith. 

Long before this she had often wished she were a boy that she 
might become a preacher. As sermons were often reviewed in the 
home, Mary was always able to give the outline and to repeat 
many parts of the sermon which was being considered. Often she 
was allowed to play church, herself being the preacher, when she 
would repeat as much as she could of the sermon she had recently 
heard. Her first original sermon was preached in all seriousness 
when she was twelve years old, during the intermission at day 
school, to her schoolmaster, whom she was about to leave to enter 
a boarding school. The text was "Repent ye." The subject was 
treated under three heads — "The meaning of repentance," "Why 
we should repent," "When we should repent." Her little hearers 
were affected to tears. 

With her strong religious nature, it is not surprising that the 
cause of missions in its modern aspect, then in its infancy, should 
appeal to her. There were several influences that aroused and 
maintained her interest in missions. 

Her first pastor, the Rev. John Joseph Freeman, was secretary 



6 Mary Clarke Nind 

of the London Missionary Society, and as such he had been on a 
tour of inspection to Madagascar; but the persecutions instituted 
by the Queen at that time drove him, with the missionaries and 
some of the native converts, from the island. Six of the native 
refugees were living in Walthamstow, and they were often invited 
to Mary's home. She never wearied listening to the recital of their 
persecutions. Just opposite the church Mary attended was a board- 
ing school for missionaries' children. Several of the children 
became Mary's intimate friends, among them Mary Moffat, already 
referred to. Ere Mary was six years old, Exeter Hall was for- 
mally opened for the great meetings of religious and charitable 
organizations. Thither Mary's mother often took her to missionary 
meetings, and there, as she heard Moffat, Morrison, Williams, 
Campbell, James and others, her enthusiasm for missions rose 
higher and higher. But who would have divined that the little girl 
sitting by her mother's side would one day, when she had become 
a mother of missionaries, be making missionary addresses in that 
same Exeter Hall? But her missionary training and ardor did not 
stop with attending missionary meetings. Rags and bones were 
saved and sold to add to the contributions to the missionary box. 
Pins were picked up, sold to the mother, and the pennies received 
for them were given the same destination. Self-denial from indul- 
gence in the little things which every child so loves to spend money 
for was practiced for the sake of having more to give to missions. 
At times Mary and her sister went out with a little basket to collect 
penny offerings for missions. 

It was not long before Mary resolved to become a missionary. 
The conditions in Madagascar again becoming favorable for the 
continuance of missionary work, there was a call for more mission- 
aries. Mary's heart responded, "Here am I ; send me." But great 
was Mary's surprise and disappointment to find that her mother, 
who entered so heartily into the missionary movement, had trained 
and encouraged her children along missionary lines, would not con- 
sent to her becoming a missionary. By making another resolution 
she was perhaps more easily resigned to her disappointment. She 



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Early Life. 7 

resolved that if she ever became a mother, and all her children 
should want to become missionaries, she would give her consent to 
every one. 

But this disappointment did not lessen her interest in other 
religious work. Her father had built a mission room to take the 
place of an older one in Wood street, Walthamstow, and here she 
taught in the Sunday school and attended religious services when- 
ever occasion offered. This building still stands, and is the subject 
of one of the illustrations. This room proved to be the nursery of a 
very flourishing cause, a union of the Congregationalists and the 
Baptists of the immediate vicinity. 

Her experience in the store, over which her father and mother 
presided, gave her valuable experience, and she found a position in 
a dry goods store in Deptford, southeast of London, and several 
miles from her home. She boarded with her employer's family in 
rooms over the store. Her's was the experience of most young 
girls under similar circumstances, and in later years she still recalled 
the dreadful homesickness from which she suffered at first. But she 
went to work in the ragged Sunday school in the vicinity — a locality 
where it was necessary for her to be escorted to and from the school 
by a London bobby, and where the protection of the police was often 
necessarily invoked to restore order. The work appealed to her and 
her homesickness soon vanished. The mission with which she was 
identified was at Tanner's Hill, about four miles from the south 
side of the Thames, and near Greenwich. It is interesting in this 
connection to note that out of this mission has grown one of the 
most important church organizations in that portion of the suburbs 
of London — the Lewishon High Road Congregational Church, 
Brockley. Originally established in a tent in the sand pits close to 
Tanner's Hill, the mission had achieved to the ownership of a chapel 
which was built during 1840-41 ; and soon after this the subject of 
this sketch became identified with the work of the mission. In a 
historical sketch printed in 1905 this statement appears : 

"On Sunday afternoon nearly seventy years ago some earnest 
Christian workers might have been seen conducting a religious serv- 



8 Mary Clarke Nind 

ice beneath a tent. They experienced great opposition and mucK 
annoyance from the rough element which congregated around. On 
more than one occasion the services were hindred by some malicious 
individuals cutting the ropes of the tent, or in some other way pro- 
ducing confusion and breaking up the meeting. Nevertheless, the 
friends persevered with the good work." 

These annoyances continued after removal to the more perma- 
nent structure. The church which grew out of this small beginning 
now supports four missions, one of which is still at Tanner's Hill, 
and although the building in which Mary Clarke had this experi- 
ence has been replaced by another, the mission is still continued on 
the premises. 

It was amid experiences such as these that the interest of 
Mary Clarke in church work grew and was nurtured, albeit that 
she was busily engaged throughout each week day in the store in 
which she was employed. The work in the dry goods store was not 
new to her, for she had learned much about it in the department of 
the store which her mother superintended. With her thoroughness 
and diligence, she soon became a valuable saleswoman, gaining 
thereby from time to time an increase in wages. While in this 
employ she had an attack of cholera from which she did not expect 
to recover. She selected as a funeral text, "I must work the 
works of Him that sent me, while it is day ; the night cometh, when 
no man can work." In her last will and testament, which was 
drawn up in mature womanhood, when she was at the height of 
her power and usefulness, this same text, of which her whole life 
was an exponent, was designated for her funeral sermon. 



CHAPTER III 

COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 

While still in his teens, James Gardiner Nind, already in love 
with Mary Clarke, sailed to the United States with his parents, 
sisters and brother. His mind was made up. Mary Clarke had 
consented to correspond with him, with the understanding that the 
correspondence was of no significance except friendship. As they 
were really half-cousins, their mothers being sisters, and the two 
families were intimate, such correspondence might very naturally 
have taken place. The Nind family settled on a farm west of Chi- 
cago. Transatlantic mails in those days were slow and irregular. 
Railroads from the east had not yet reached Chicago. At best the 
exchange of letters could not be very frequent, and, moreover, the 
expense was considerable, the postage at first being about fifty cents 
on a letter. But as time went on postal facilities improved. James 
Nind attained his majority. His letters became more frequent and 
more to the point. At last he sought a definite return to his declara- 
tion of love. Mary's parents favored her acceptance of the offer he 
had made, but for a whole month Mary weighed the matter in her 
own heart and before God. Then she wrote to Mr. Nind, admitting 
for the first time her love for him. He proposed that she come out 
to America to be married there. To this plan her parents would 
not consent. So the journey from Chicago to London, much longer 
in time, more expensive, and less comfortable in those days than 
now, was taken by Mr. Nind. 

But before we come to the wedding, one circumstance which 
may have had its influence in Mary Clarke's after-life, particularly 
in her religious experience and church relations, should be men- 
tioned. While Mary was still in her teens, her brother, next older, 
had become a Wesleyan and been made a local preacher. As such 
he frequently preached at Knott's Green Wesleyan chapel, about 



10 Mary Clarke Nind 

half a mile from the Clarke home. Although Mrs. Clarke had no 
leaning towards the Wesleyans, she had a certain motherly pride in 
having her son preaching, and, as he was gifted as a preacher, she 
often went to hear him. Mary* was glad of opportunities to accom- 
pany her, as she too enjoyed her brother's preaching, and the hearti- 
ness and freedom of the service touched a responsive chord in her 
religious nature. Long before Mary's engagement to Mr. Nind this 
brother had married and gone to Illinois, where for many years he 
preached every Sunday as a local preacher of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church. 

James Nind reached England about the first of March, 1850, and 
on the 16th of that month his marriage to Miss Mary Clarke took 
place at the Marsh Street chapel, the Rev. Thomas Davis, pastor, 
officiating. The chapel in which the ceremony occurred forms the 
subject of one of the accompanying illustrations, furnished by the 
bride's surviving brother. In sending it to the authors of this 
volume, he says: "Her youngest brother was at the wedding, and 
subsequently married one of her bridesmaids," which would go to 
show that Mary was not then unmindful of the elaborateness of 
detail in wedding events common to a later day. The bride and 
groom spent a portion of their honeymoon at Sanbridgeworth, in 
Hertfordshire, but left England shortly after for America, sailing on 
a Cunard line steamer from Liverpool. The journey was a long one, 
by steamer to New York, and thence up the Hudson, and by rail 
and canal to Buffalo, by lake to Detroit, and thence by stage across 
the state of Michigan, and by steamer to Chicago, and by stage to 
the new home, just west of this latter city, and near where the 
father of the groom had made himself a home. This new home 
was in Orangeville, Kane county, Illinois. 

A few years before the wedding took place Mr. Clarke had 
closed out his business and retired from mercantile life, in which he 
had been financially successful. Having acquired some property 
upon the rents of which he was living at the time of this wedding, 
he is classed in the marriage registry as a "gentleman." His home 
was now in one of his own houses in the heart of Walthamstow, in 



Congregational Church at W a- 
thamstow, England, where Mary 
Clarke taught in the Sunday 
School and -where she was after- 
ward married 




^Vood Street Lecture Room, 
Wathamstow, England, where 
Mary Clarke first taught Sun- 
day School. The Chapel was 
built hy her father. 



Mission School where Mary 
Clarke visited her friend Miss 
Moffit, afterwards the wife of 
David Livinstone, and from -which 
she received her first inspiration 
in behalf of foreign missions 



SCENES OF MARY CLARKE'S GIRLHOOD 



Courtship and Marriage 11 

Marsh street, but a short distance from the chapel where the wed- 
ding took place. When he took up his residence there he named it 
Voluntary House, in token of the position he held with reference to 
the payment of church rates. 

It remains only to be added to this chapter that James Nind, who 
had been bred by his father to the trade of an ironmonger, as the 
hardware merchant of England is still called, readily found employ- 
ment in the general store in the new crossroads town, and that a 
boarding place was secured with Mr. and Mrs. William Smith. The 
experience of the bride had not been very extensive in household 
duties. She had been reared in a home where servants were plenty, 
had gone to boarding school when she reached the age of twelve, 
and when her school days were over had taken a place in the store 
over which her mother presided, and later entered the dry goods 
store in Deptford, as already recounted. Not a very good prepara- 
tion, possibly, for the duties which fall to the lot of the wife of a 
man in moderate means in a new country. Into these household 
mysteries she was inducted by Mrs. Smith — Harriet Smith, as the 
subject of this sketch was always wont to call her. Mrs. Smith was 
a New England woman, skilled, as most New England women are 
in housewifery, and she instructed the young bride in general house- 
hold management, initiated her into the mysteries of breadmaking, 
the fine points of good cooking, the niceties in washing and ironing, 
and the many other things that many brides learn only by experience 
after sad failures. As teacher and pupil Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Nind 
worked together like sisters, and the affection and intimacy which 
sprang up between them was lifelong. Mrs. Smith, though feeble, 
still survives. Her home is in Wheaton, 111. 



CHAPTER IV 

EARLY MARRIED LIFE 

For much of that which is contained in this and the immediately 
succeeding chapters the authors are compelled to depend largely 
upon personal diaries which were kept by Mary C. Nind uninter- 
ruptedly during almost all of her married life, some of her own 
writings, and such faint recollection as the elder of her children still 
retains of the events which are here recorded. 

In the midst of this study of household accomplishments time 
was found for church work, in which husband and wife entered 
with equal zeal. But the village of Orangeville evidently did not 
offer opportunities large enough for the ambition of the husband. 
He had spent nearly four years in America prior to his marriage, 
knew something of the resources of the vicinity, and believed that a 
greater future awaited the town of St. Charles, in the Fox River 
valley, where a water-power was giving birth to numerous manufac- 
turing enterprises, offered greater opportunities. A brother and a 
sister had already settled there, and to that place the young couple 
removed in the spring of 185 1, and with such capital as he could 
command James Nind engaged in the hardware business. 

The diaries which have been preserved of the first year of the 
married life of Mary C. Nind developed that she was homesick, 
but homesick only for opportunities. Orangeville did not afford the 
opportunities for her activities in religious work which she had 
enjoyed during all her girlhood. Apparently the chief expression 
of her desire to do something for the uplifting of men and women 
in the community in which she had become a resident found a vent 
in her warm advocacy of her temperance principles.. Her father 
and her elder brother had early allied themselves with the cause of 
teetotalism in England, where total abstinence principles were little 
practiced and little taught. Naturally Mary imbibed much of their 




JAMES G. and MARY C. NIND 

This picture is reproduced from an old daguerreotype made soon after the marriage of 
Mr. and Mrs. Nind and is the earliest known picture of Mary C. Nind 



Early Married Life 13 

devotion to this cause. When, however, the new home was made in 
St. Charles, which was then a growing and promising manufactur- 
ing city in the center of a rich farming country, and which had a 
population of about three thousand, wider opportunity was given for 
the exercise of her religious and philanthropic activities. James G. 
Nind and his wife had no sooner removed to St. Charles than they 
promptly allied themselves with the Congregational church, of which 
both he and his wife were members until a later date. James G. 
Nind was active in church work. He was the superintendent of the 
Sabbath school for many years, the leader of the choir, and a deacon 
in the church. At this early date little opportunity was offered, 
especially in the Congregational church, for activity in the real work 
of the women. Particularly was it enjoined that women should 
keep silent. 

It should be remembered, however, that the period between 1850 
and i860 was one of intense feeling. The slavery question had 
begun to be prominent. All the western country was undergoing 
what we now denominate a "boom." Everything was done in an 
intense way, and these elemental conditions were not changed when, 
in 1857, the country was swept by a financial crash, and the slavery 
question became more and more prominent, resulting in the out- 
break of the war soon after the beginning of i860. James G. Nind 
prospered for the first six or seven years after he embarked in busi- 
ness in St. Charles, but failed in the winter of 1858-59. It is one 
of the rich legacies which he left to his children, and which has 
been a guiding star to them ever since, that he refused to take ad- 
vantage of the bankruptcy law, and declared that he would pay 
dollar for dollar of all his indebtedness, a result which he accom- 
plished before called to the service of his country, as is related 
further along in this narrative. 

In the meantime a humble home had been established in St. 
Charles, in which all the children were born. They were Louisa 
Mary Nind, born October 18, 1851; John Newton Nind, born 
March 11, 1854; Emma Nind, born December 21, 1857; George 
Benjamin Nind, born February 23, i860, and Henry Stevens Nind, 



14 Mary Clarke Nind 

born May 8, 1862. All of the children survive at the date of this 
narrative except Henry Stevens Nind, whose death occurred in 1864. 
They will ever remember this humble home as a place in which love 
reigned supreme, where the principles of the Christian religion were 
inculcated, and where the family altar was early established. 

Both James G. and Mary C. Nind were outspoken advocates of 
the cause of anti-slavery, and it is revealed in some of the writings 
of the subject of this narrative that the little house in St. Charles 
(shown in one of the illustrations) was not infrequently used as a 
station of the "underground railway" for fugitive slaves on their 
way from the south to Canada. The present narrators were yet un- 
born, or too young to remember episodes of this character. 

When the war broke out in 1861 James G. Nind felt the call of 
duty, but was still engaged in an attempt to rehabilitate his fortunes, 
to the extent, at least, of providing for his family and paying his 
debts. He felt that the care of a young wife and four children, all 
under the age of nine years, was his first duty. However, when the 
second call of President Lincoln for "a hundred thousand more" 
was issued, he found that he could no longer resist the claim upon 
his services by his country, and enlisted as a private in Company E, 
One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois Infantry. In a brief 
sketch written by Mary C. Nind in 1896 she gives this account of 
the events which played so important a part in the life of the young 
couple: "The call reached the ear and heart of the patriotic hus- 
band, and one morning he startled his wife by saying, T believe that 
the Lord is calling me into the army, but how can I leave you and 
the children ?' The reply was, Tt will be very hard to let you go, but 
if the Lord calls you you must obey, and He will give me grace 
and strength to care for the children and be father and mother 
both.' And so," she continues, "after consultation with his godly 
parents, who, after prayer, had the conviction that he ought to 
answer the call, he enlisted as a private soldier." The pay of a pri- 
vate soldier was $13 a month, which certainly offered but scant 
assurance of bounteous support for a family which then consisted 
of father, mother, and the five children. But the wife and mother 



Early Married Life 15 

set heroically at work to make the family income provide for the 
wants of herself and her growing children. How it was accom- 
plished none can realize who did not encounter a similar experi- 
ence during the time of the war of the rebellion, with its restricted 
food supplies and the high prices which prevailed. The author of 
this chapter recalls that his contribution, and that of his elder sister, 
to the income of the family began when he was a boy of little more 
than ten years of age, and that it was derived from the sale of pies 
and hard-boiled eggs, prepared by his mother and peddled in the 
camps of the two regiments of soldiers which at different intervals 
were encamped in St. Charles. He was also called upon to supply 
the necessary fuel, a result he accomplished by cutting from the 
tree, into firewood, the winter's supply of wood. These incidents 
are offered here only as a sidelight upon the strenuous conditions 
under which the wife and mother labored during war times. Many 
other brave women had similar experience. Some outstanding 
debts, due to the husband and father, had been left at the time of his 
failure in business, and as many of these as could be were collected 
from time to time, so that the home was supplied with enough of 
creature comforts to make it possible for the authors of this book 
to have nothing but the happiest remembrance of this home and of 
their childhood days. 

Within a few months after the enlistment of James G. Nind he 
was promoted to the position of orderly sergeant, which carried 
with it an increase of pay to $20, and when Sherman's army marched 
into Vicksburg he was made provost clerk at a salary of $60 a 
month, a position which he filled for about a year. During the 
time he was stationed in Vicksburg he was the organist in one of 
the churches and was active in the spiritual affairs of the church. 
The writer remembers many incidents of this period which were 
related very fully in the voluminous letters which came to the little 
home regularly from his father. Among these was the one recount- 
ing that he not infrequently played "The Star Spangled Banner," 
and "Yankee Doodle," with variations, to slow time, as an offertory 
in this southern church, his love of the flag tempting him to this 



16 Mary Clarke Nind 

indulgence. Sergeant Nind, after having been stationed in Vicks- 
burg for about a year, was recalled to his regiment and made 
adjutant, with the rank of first lieutenant, which position he filled 
until he was mustered out of the service in 1865 at the close of the 
war. 

Meantime important changes were being brought about in the 
religious life of Mary C. Nind. Active and devoted as she was dur- 
ing the latter years of her life to all good works, to which she gave 
so freely of her time and thought, she sacrificed for these very 
often the companionship of her husband, to whom she was devotedly 
attached, and the home life which she enjoyed. During these first 
years of her married life she was, first of all, a mother to her chil- 
dren, and a homemaker. But it should be remembered that the 
period was one in which spiritual and political feeling ran high. The 
intensity of the time even found expression in the churches. There 
was a constant revision of sentiment, even in the churches of the 
north, upon the issues of the war. Mary C. Nind participated in 
all the feeling of that period. She knew no such thing as any com- 
promise upon the principles which she held — social, political, or 
religious. Her training had taught her to be a part and parcel of 
every good work. She felt intensely, and she expressed herself 
forcibly. Even in these younger days these characteristics were 
most pronounced. In St. Charles there had arisen a schism 
within the Methodist church, and within less than a block of her 
home there had been established a Free Methodist church, in which 
emotionalism in religion had full sway. The Congregational church, 
to which she still belonged, and a communicant in which her hus- 
band continued until the time of his death, in May, 1885, was on the 
west side of the river, nearly a mile distant from the home. It is not 
strange that the subject of this narrative, always intensely relig- 
ious, and tied to her home duties by the demands made upon her 
time and attention by her children, should have sought opportunity 
for the expression of her religious feeling, and should have found 
her way not infrequently to the church which had been established 
by the Free Methodists, which was so near at hand. The Congre- 




THE FIRST HOME 



In this house in St. Charles, Illinois, James G. and Mary C. Nind made their first home in 1852. 

Here all their children were born. The house still stands on the original 

site, and has been only slightly changed 



Early Married Life 17 

gational church was then, as now, conservative ; but the pastor of 
the Congregational church of St. Charles, the Rev. William LaDue, 
together with his wife, shared somewhat in the intenser religious 
feeling which seems to have siezed upon Mary C. Nind. Both the 
pastor and the subject of this narrative did not hesitate to express 
their desire for a higher religious life, and to voice some of the doc- 
trines which had been made prominent by the Free Methodists, and 
to plead for more spirituality and a closer walk with God than they 
believed prevailed within the Congregational church. These expres- 
sions were regarded as particularly heretical and objectionable upon 
the part of a woman. Be it said that Mary C. Nind began her first 
public speaking then, a procedure which led to much feeling within 
the church, and a threat of trial for some infraction of the rules 
and doctrines prevailing in the Congregational church at that time. 
Before the issues were joined she withdrew from the Congrega- 
tional denomination and sought a new home in the Methodist 
Episcopal church. More detailed account of this period of her 
religious life has been given by a narrative from her own pen, enti- 
tled "Into the Light," which may very properly be given a place as 
supplemental to this chapter, revealing as it does the growth and 
expansion of her religious view and the early development of her 
special activity in church work. It should be added that the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church in St. Charles, with which she first united, 
was located very near to her home, and that the transition from the 
Congregational to the Methodist denomination occurred during the 
time when her husband was still in the service of his country. 

But here is the story of this important change in her church rela- 
tionship as told by Mary C. Nind herself. 



CHAPTER V 

INTO THE LIGHT-MY EXPERIENCE 
By MARY C. NIND 

I was born six miles from London, England, the child of pious 
parents, who led their six children to the Savior, converted before 
five years of age. The memory of my conversion is still fresh and 
delightful. 

At twelve years I taught in the Sabbath school, seeking to lead 
my class to the lover of children, who said in the days of his flesh, 
"Suffer little children to come unto me." At fourteen united with 
a Congregational — or, as it was called in England, an Independent 
church — as early as children usually united there. A regular attend- 
ant at prayer meeting and on all the means of grace, a busy 
worker in the Master's vineyard, seeking to lead my friends to 
Jesus. And yet, though for the most part a happy, useful Christian, 
delighting in the work of the Lord, I had my easily besetting sins — 
pride, impatience, an irritable temper, tendency to levity, "with fool- 
ish talking and jesting" which often caused me sorrow, and led me 
again and again in penitence to the mercy seat for forgiveness and a 
restoration of the joys of salvation. While listening to the deacons 
and pillars of the church in the weekly prayer meeting, bewailing 
their many sins of omission and commission — speaking of their cold- 
ness and worldliness, their want of love and zeal, etc. — to my young 
heart there came often the question, "How can these things be?" 
These Christians, old in years, have the same troubles that I have. 
Must I go on to thirty, forty, fifty, sixty years, and still have to 
fight against my easily besetting sins, and every now and then be 
conquered? Is there no hope of victory all the time? Cannot 
Jesus, the physician of soul and body, heal my soul as quickly and 
as perfectly as he healed the sick while on earth, saying to the leper, 
"I will, be thou clean, and immediately his leprosy was cleansed." 



Into the Light — My Experience 19 

Thus I reasoned and soliloquized, then went to a good old deacon 
for a solution, and told him all, and he answered me : "Mary, you 
want too much; you must expect to fight, and struggle, and to be 
overcome by sin and Satan sometimes through your life; but ere 
you die, before you go to heaven, Jesus will take all your sins away 
and make you holy." My heart was heavy as I turned away, not 
believing the theology given, and feeling an earnest desire to die 
suddenly and soon if I must go on battling for three-score years and 
ten. But I lived on, passed through childhood, early womanhood, 
into the relations of wife and mother, growing in grace, still at work 
for Jesus, having a good amount of joy in the service of the Lord, 
and yet, as thousands do, sinning and repenting, gaining a victory, 
then losing a battle, struggling, fasting, resolving, praying, hoping, 
longing to be free. For nearly forty years I was "in the wilder- 
ness," so near the goodly Canaan, and yet not entering in ; for I had 
no Joshua to tell me "I was well able to go up and possess the 
land ;" nor did I know how to enter. 

But God, who is rich in mercy, having seen my tears, heard my 
sighs, sobs, and prayers, saw me beating against my cage, trying to 
be free. He sent a man of God from the Theological Seminary in 
Chicago, who preached the doctrine of the "Higher Life," and he 
enjoyed the experience he preached. I listened eagerly. I longed 
for Sunday to come, that I might know more. How clear and well 
denned the way ! — the narrow way — how much consecration in- 
cluded and involved! How the light of the Spirit did shine upon 
the truth ! How the Lord did discover to me that there was much 
to be surrendered — love of applause and honor, some worldly ambi- 
tions, love of dress, desire to be rich, and many other things ! After 
some conflicts sharp and strong I resolved to be and do all the Lord 
would have me be and do, cost what it would. I laid aside my jew- 
elry after hearing an excellent sermon upon the text, "Let your 
women adorn themselves in modest apparel," and, as on my knees I 
told the Lord I did it for his sake, the blessed baptism fell on me 
as the seal of the divine approval. The little act cost me some bit- 
ter opposition, but I steadily adhered, and rejoiced in my freedom. 



20 Mary Clarke Nind 

God's word was studied from cover to cover to learn his will. With 
earnest prayer I sought to know the mind of the Spirit. Meetings 
were attended, conversation with the pastor, the reading of the 
books which would throw light on the doctrine and experience, and 
after many, many months I came to the conviction: The Bible 
teaches we may "be holy," we may "be cleansed," we may have 
"rest" even here, we may "be sanctified wholly," we may be "saved 
to the uttermost." Judgment, intellect, conscience, say yes to it all ; 
but inbred sin yet remained. The church was advancing spiritually ; 
not a few were enjoying, and growing on, this "strong meat;" 
others were "opposing themselves" and God's ministers. It was 
when the Free Methodist movement was in its infancy, but at its 
height, and our pastor, not (in our view) wise in his tactics, allied 
himself to them and sought their aid in some of the work in the 
Congregational church. Trouble came, a meeting was called, and 
he was dismissed ; and about forty left the church and went with 
him to the Free Methodist church. The sweet, Christlike spirit in 
which he bore his trial will never be forgotten. "When he was 
reviled he reviled not again, and when he suffered he threatened 
not." As the Master, so the servant. Those of us who remained 
were benefited, but conscientiously we staid in the church where we 
had been members so long. Another pastor came, not to help, but 
oppose us, and when any of us spoke of our desire for the experi- 
ence of the higher life, or sanctification, some adverse criticism cut 
keenly, and we were called Methodists, or Free Methodists, or 
Pharisees. The sisters were effectually silenced, and only the breth- 
ren spoke and prayed in the social meetings. 

All this, and much more which cannot be written, crushed my 
spirit, tried my soul, irritated my temper; for I had not yet "en- 
tered into rest." The pastor was determined this disturbing element 
should cease. So, as I was at this time about the only one left who 
still spoke of the doctrine and still persisted in going to Methodist 
meetings, seeking for light, I was put under discipline and waited 
on by one of the deacons, charged with schism — holding Methodist 
doctrines in a Congregational church. At the next church meeting 



Into the Light — My Experience 21 

I appeared and tried to demonstrate that sanctification was a doc- 
trine of the Bible, not distinctively of the Methodist church, and that 
I confessed to holding the doctrine. But alas ! I had not the experi- 
ence ; but meant to have it, cost what it would. A year passed on — 
a year of conflict, trial, sorrow, and of almost silence in the church — 
"the word of God was as fire shut up in my bones." Every now 
and then I would "steal awhile away" to a Methodist prayer meet- 
ing and get blessed, but "I was a stranger and a guest, not like a 
child at home." I was often in heaviness through manifold tempta- 
tions. Another crisis came, which formed a link in the chain of 
providences. The collector of pew rent called on Saturday morning 
to know whether I would need the same pew the coming year. At 
this time my husband was in the army, and all the cares of family 
and church duties were borne without his loving aid. I replied, "I 
do not know whether I shall want that or any other; I will let 
you know positively on Monday," and I gave myself to earnest 
prayer from that hour to know whether I should remain in the Con- 
gregational church or go into the Methodist Episcopal. What a 
dark day was that Saturday and part of Sunday! I talked and 
prayed with the children. I called in a dear friend, to consult her 
and have her pray with me, though only a few months before I had 
led her to Jesus. Must I leave the church of my fathers ; the church 
of my choice ; the church of my husband ; the church in which all 
my children had been baptized, and where I had been so happy 
and blessed and honored of God in the salvation of souls? Did 
God call me out? These and many other questions were crowding 
for replies all day Sunday. It was hard work to teach in the Sun- 
day school and to hear the word. Coming home from church "in 
great heaviness," having no light, I overtook a precious saint who 
had passed through deep waters and many furnaces of affliction, and 
to her I opened my heart. Full well do I remember the spot where 
I overtook her, and the expression of her countenance as she said : 
"Mrs. Nind, we shall all miss you if you decide to leave the Congre- 
gational church; but if I were you I would go into the Methodist 



22 Mary Clarke Nind 

church. You will be more happy and more useful there, for there 
is more liberty for women to exercise their gifts." 

I took it as a word from the Lord. The burden lifted ; the light 
dawned; the decision was made; and when the collector came on 
Monday morning I said: "I shall not want another pew in your 
church : I am going to be a Methodist." 

I sent for my letter. It was not very cordial; did not recom- 
mend me very well. The dear, good pastor read it and re-read it. 
This was its text: "Mrs. Mary C. Nind, who has not walked in 
harmony with our church for a year, requests a letter to the. Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, and is hereby dismissed to you." Then, 
handing it back to me, and looking kindly though grieved, he said, 
"We cannot receive that letter." "Well," I replied, "what shall I 
do? Out of that church, and cannot enter yours?" "Oh, yes," he 
answered. "That letter is not good enough for you; we can do 
without it." Then, taking the Methodist Discipline, he read the 
clause : "Nevertheless, if a member in good standing in any ortho- 
dox church shall desire to unite with us, such applicant may, by giv- 
ing satisfactory answers to the usual inquiries, be received at once 
into full fellowship." I returned the letter with a kind and frank 
accompaniment, answered the usual inquiries satisfactorily, and on 
Sunday, the 18th of September, 1864, was safely housed in the 
Methodist Episcopal church. 

I raised a new Ebenezer of gratitude, "for hitherto the Lord had 
helped me." Anew I consecrated myself to the Lord and his serv- 
ice, and with new consecrations came new joy. Two years and 
eight months passed on, the Lord all the while setting his seal to the 
step taken. The children all converted, and many of my Sunday 
school scholars ; the consecration, so far as I had light, complete ; 
but the blessing of a clean heart not obtained. In the year 1866, 
May 13, I united with the Methodist Episcopal church in Winona, 
Minn., and in the first year of Brother William McKindley's pas- 
torate (1867) was led by a dear sister, a busy mother like myself, 
to trust the Lord for salvation from inbred sin, the cleansing of my 
heart, which should bring to me what I had so long desired — "the 




CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, ST. CHARLES, ILL. 



First church home in America of Mary Clarke Nind 



Into the Light — My Experience 23 

rest of faith." In my own room, on Thursday evening, just before 
going to prayer meeting, the work was done, and the baptism of 
melting love, and the gentle hush of tenderness, and rest of soul was 
mine. And I said again and again, " Can it be, after all these years 
of weary waiting and hard struggle, that I have rest?" I went to 
prayer meeting and tried to tell it, but it was the rest unspeakable. 
All night long I was too happy to speak, and a hundred times or 
more I said : "Blessed Jesus ! I have rest, sweet rest. Emptied of 
self— filled with God. Mary C. Nind had rest!" Hallelujah! The 
morning came — the best morning of my life then — the power of 
God had prostrated my body. Physically weak ; but, oh, such rest ! 
My face, my voice, my step, my bearing, was changed! My chil- 
dren noticed it. I told them I had rest. I cannot say it has been, 
from that time until now, unbroken rest ; but I can say that through 
grace it has been the habit of my soul, and whenever I have lost it 
I have by faith pursued till I regained it. I cannot live or work for 
Jesus successfully without it. It cost me much to seek it, and to find 
it — too much to ever lose it. It has been to me "the pearl of great 
price." These years since I have been in this valley of blessing have 
been years in "Beulah land," years of rest, victory, peace, joy, and 
glad, continued service ; and as I go I sing : 

"O come to this valley of blessing so sweet 

Where Jesus will fullness bestow, 
O believe and receive and confess him, 
That all his salvation may know. " 

Yours, 
Saved by Jesus — the "Mighty to Save." 

Mary C. Nind. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE NEW HOME IN MINNESOTA 

The chapter which has already been quoted is almost the only 
thing which we find among the documents of our mother covering 
the period between i860 and 1865. During all her life, before the 
war and after, she kept, with reasonable regularity, a diary in which 
the important events in her busy life were briefly recorded. Singu- 
larly enough, these records, if any were kept during the period 
referred to, are missing. It is possible to believe that the cares of 
motherhood, the necessity of contributing, directly and indirectly, 
to the support of her children during the period that her husband 
was in the army, and the more momentous events, particularly in 
her religious life, crowded so swiftly upon her that she did not find 
the time to keep her modest diary. 

We are compelled, therefore, to depend very largely upon our 
recollection of some things which had an important bearing upon 
her life during this period. The husband and father wrote volumi- 
nous letters concerning his experiences in the army. Newspapers in 
1 860- 1 865 were less numerous than they are at the present time, and 
neither the railroad nor the telegraph facilities enabled the pub- 
lishers to get even the meager information which they had of events 
at the front promptly to the public. Our home in St. Charles was 
a center for the dissemination of such news as Sergeant Nind was 
enabled to communicate to his wife. It was the practice, therefore, 
for mother, upon the receipt of one of his letters, to run to the top 
of a mast a flag, which was a signal that a letter had been received, 
and which promptly gathered to our house those interested to know 
of the welfare of the boys in the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh 
infantry. Very distinctly were all the details of Sherman's march 
to the sea, and particularly the siege of Vicksburg, impressed upon 
the mind of the writer of this. These frequent letters from father 



The New Home in Minnesota 25 

kept alive the patriotic spirit which had so large a place in our 
home. 

During the absence of her husband in the service of his country, 
the first great sorrow fell to the lot of Mary C. Nind in the loss of 
her infant son. This event undoubtedly had much to do with her 
desire to be closer to God. During the period between 1859 an d 
the events particularly herein recorded, Henry Stevens, who was a 
prominent merchant, a man of some means, and of broad humanities 
and great common sense, had frequently rendered assistance to our 
parents. The Stevens family were near neighbors, and when in 
1862 an infant son was born he was named Henry Stevens Nind, in 
recognition of the many kindnesses of Henry Stevens. Mr. Stevens 
was not at this time a professing Christian. Soon after mother 
became connected with the Methodist Episcopal church, the pastor 
of which was Rev. S. N. Griffith, a revival of religion was conducted 
in the Methodist church. The writer of this remembers with great 
distinctness the impression which was made upon the community 
when Henry Stevens rose for prayers, largely through the influ- 
ences which had been brought to bear upon him by our mother, 
and the great uplift which the movement received when he became 
a professor of the Christian religion. This made Henry Stevens 
more than ever a friend of the family, and during all the "war 
widowhood," and up to the time when he removed to Winona, 
Minn., he was continually helpful. It is not strange, therefore, that 
when Adjutant Nind was mustered out of service at the close of the 
war, and confronted the necessity of making a new place for him- 
self in the world of endeavor, he should turn to Henry Stevens, who 
had already made a new home in a new country, for advice and 
counsel. Mr. Stevens, although converted under influences within 
the Methodist Episcopal church, had become a member of the Con- 
gregational church, upon which he had previously been an attend- 
ant. He had already taken a place in the First Congregational 
church, of Winona, when father wrote him asking if there was any 
opening for the returned soldier in the great northwest. A place 
was promptly found in a large wholesale hardware establishment in 



28 Mary Clarke Nind 

Winona, and only a short time after his return from the war father 
was called upon to accept this new position. There was no through 
rail communication at that time between St. Charles and the points 
in Minnesota. The only way of reaching Winona was by boat up 
the Mississippi from Dubuque, in the summer, or by tedious stage 
ride during the winter. It was not therefore until spring that the 
family removed from St. Charles to Winona, Minn. The home of 
our childhood was sold and in May, 1866, we took our departure 
for the new northwest. Father had already become an active 
influence in the affairs of the First Congregational church. He 
was made the superintendent of the Sunday school and during all 
the period of his residence in Winona was a deacon in the church 
and active in its affairs. During the six or eight months, between 
the time of his arrival in Winona and that of his family, he already 
had become a part of the church organization in which Henry 
Stevens had been accorded a place. Naturally it was both the desire 
of Mr. Stevens, and of father, that mother should resume her former 
relationship with the Congregational church. Evidently this propo- 
sition had a large place in the thoughts and prayers of mother 
during the first weeks of her residence in Winona, for in one of her 
diaries we find this statement: 

"In May, 1866, we settled here. For two weeks I was very 
homesick, very discontented, and I regret to say very unreconciled 
to this dispensation of providence that had removed me from so 
many loved ones, and set me down well nigh among strangers. I 
lost sight of Christ, faith was weak, almost gone, and like a plant 
transplanted from its native soil, I withered, wilted and was sickly. 
God forgive me the sins of those two weeks. At the expiration of 
this time, after carefully considering the matter, I determined to go 
into the Methodist Episcopal church. The first prayer meeting I 
attended I felt better and resolved to forget my trial of moving and 
go to work for Jesus. Two Sabbaths afterwards, on May 20th, I 
was appointed class leader of the Young People's Class. Prayer- 
fully I went to my work. The class was small. I was aided from 
on high and we had a blessed meeting." Under date of June, 1866, 




METHODIST CHURCH, ST. CHARLES, ILL. 



This is the first Methodist church with which Mary Clarke Nind was connected 
a^ter leaving the Congregational Church 



The New Home in Minnesota 27 

she says: "I was called to work in the Sunday school. A very 
interesting class was given me and I went to my work cheerfully, 
relying on the Master's help." It may be added here that she 
continued as the teacher of the class referred to until her removal 
from Winona, completing thirty-five years of consecutive work as a 
Sunday school teacher. 

Reverend Chauncy Hobart, long the oldest preacher in the 
Winona Conference, was the pastor of the Methodist church at this 
time and a year later was succeeded by Rev. Wm. McKinley. Under 
date of July, 1866, this entry appears in the diary : 

"This date found me at work with my dear friend Mrs. Simp- 
son for the poor and sick of the church and I felt happy working 
for the poor and afflicted of God's dear people. The church here 
kindly set me to work. Bless God for the heart to labor, the 
opportunity to labor and for precious Christian friends with whom 
to labor." The close friendship formed at this time with Mrs. 
Thomas Simpson was continuous until the death of Mrs. Simpson, 
in 1885. 

These entries, and a few others which follow, disclose how 
active was the participation of mother in the affairs of the church 
with which she was so long connected, and how necessary to her 
happiness was usefulness. She loved her work and gloried in its 
results. This work evidently brought her a great spiritual comfort. 
Under date of August, 1866, she says : "Our class in the morning is 
increasing in interest and in numbers. Many refreshing seasons 
have we had this month." A month later she writes : "This 
month has been full of labor, crowded with duties and salvation 
of souls has laid very near my heart. With Sister Simpson I have 
been privileged to labor much in Central church work. The Lord 
seemed to have baptized me for this special work, and as we pleaded 
with the people we prayed in faith an astonishing success crowned 
our effort. I feel very confident that the windows of heaven will 
be open now that God's people have brought their tithes into the 
storehouse. I see indications of a coming revival in our class 
meetings and prayer meetings." 



28 Mary Clarke Nind 

The diary from which these quotations are made is full of 
similar expressions. 

Meantime a new home had been established and the children 
of this almost unbroken family had begun their education in the 
schools of Winona. Zealous as was our mother in all good works, 
and devoted as she was to the duties which were freely imposed 
upon her, she still was first of all a mother and had a pride in the 
home, to which she was also devoted. It was not until 1870 that 
she became interested in the work of the Women's Foreign Mission- 
ary Society, with which her public career was destined to be there- 
after chiefly connected. In this field of endeavor she established an 
acquaintance which extended around the world. Of this work more 
may be said in succeeding chapters. 

In April, 1876, her father, Ebenezer Clark, Sr., died, leaving 
a modest patrimony to all of his children. This enabled mother in 
later years to give freely of what she possessed to the cause to 
which she was devoted and which she loved so much, as well as to 
other good works which commended themselves to her appreciation 
and endorsement. It made possible also generous provision for the 
education of her children, and enabled her to give more freely of 
her time to the cause of foreign missions than otherwise would 
have been the case. 

Soon after the death of her father, accompanied by her husband, 
she sailed for England, returning in June of the same year. This 
was the first visit of James G. and Mary C. Nind to the scenes of 
their childhood since their marriage. The writer recalls that the 
thing which most impressed his father was the apparent growth of 
the drink habit in England in the quarter of a century which had 
intervened, and that nothing interested him more than a brochure 
written by Ebenezer Clarke, Jr., on the temperance question, which 
had enjoyed wide circulation in England and was not without its 
influence upon a question which had grown in importance in that 
country. In later years it was mother's good fortune to spend many 
happy days with her brothers and sisters in old England. 



CHAPTER VII 

WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY 

April 4, 1870, the western branch of the Woman's Missionary 
Society was formed with Mrs. Lucy E. Prescott as its corresponding 
secretary and Miss Isabella Leonard its assistant corresponding 
secretary, and entered upon her work of organizing in Minnesota. 
During this visit to Minnesota a strong society was organized and 
Mrs. Mary C. Nind was first enlisted in the work. Mrs. Nind had 
from her childhood been interested in missions and, as already 
stated, had in her early girlhood days desired to give her life to that 
work. When, therefore, this new call to work for women came to 
her, she was glad and willing to pay her two cents a week and 
accompany it with a prayer. She did not at that time see how a 
busy wife and mother, a Sunday school teacher with a class of 
twenty young women, a leader of a Sabbath morning class and of a 
young people's prayer meeting, with sixty young people to be 
instructed and visited, could be expected to take any further 
responsibility. Of how she was led into the work, Mrs. Nind gave 
the following account in a little pamphlet published by the western 
branch after ten years of its existence: 

In June, 1870, one Saturday afternoon, when laid aside with a distressing 
headache, my pastor's wife, Mrs. Chauncey Hobart, and Miss Leonard called 
to talk over the new work, the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, I sent 
word, "I am too sick to be seen," but the persistent Miss Leonard insisted 
and wearily and unwillingly I granted her request. Seeing my suffering the 
sisters opened up their plan a little, and then left, promising to call again. 
Toward night Miss Leonard returned. In the morning, with very little energy 
and interest, I listened to her plans. Sunday afternoon Miss Leonard pre- 
sented the subject to the Sunday school and my class became interested. In 
the evening, standing in the altar resting on a chair, she very tremblingly pre- 
sented the claims of heathen women, while many wondered that so timid and 
delicate a woman should even attempt to speak in public. A good list of names 
was secured as members and the meeting adjourned. 

Monday morning came and despite the pressing cares of washday Miss 



30 Mary Clarke Nind 

Leonard must have the busy housekeeper accompany her to see some of the 
prominent women of the church. The question which had so often been put: 
"What will you do in this work?" was repeated as we walked and again the 
answer given: "I do not see how I can take hold of it, with my household 
cares, sixty young people under my charge in the Sunday school class and 
young people's meeting and looking after the strangers and the sick, my 
hands are full; let others who have less to do take the responsibility; I shall 
pay my two cents a week and pray, but cannot do more." 

The afternoon came with the meeting for organization. Soon Miss 
Leonard asked, ' ' Whom will you have for your president ? " I was nominated. 
Eemonstrance followed remonstrance, but the response came, "No one will 
take it if you do not." So, with tearful eyes and a burdened heart, consent 
was given. For some years the office was held and the work enjoyed. After a 
time calls came to organize in neighboring towns and villages. Very hesitat- 
ingly I went out to tell the simple story and plead for the salvation of heathen 
women. In each place societies were organized. The work grew dearer and 
Christ was nearer; the energies of brain, body and soul were thrown into it 
till it has become incorporated with my very life. 

I expect to live and die in the work, with a heart full of praise for the call 
from God to his handmaid and grace to obey and for all the blessed ex- 
perience connected with the work from that day to this. 

About this same time Dr. Edward Eggleston, a former pastor 
of the Winona church, while visiting in the city, attended Mrs. 
Nind's morning class and Sunday school class which embraced 
sixty young people. He also heard her speak at a Sunday school 
convention. Of this visit mother writes: "Whether this inspired 
an article which appeared in the Independent under the caption 
'Women's Work in the Church' I knew not, but I was startled by 
his suggesting in that article that 'J enme F. Willing and Mary C. 
Nind should be licensed to preach.' I may also add that I was 
somewhat annoyed, but my annoyance gave way to thoughtfulness 
and inquiry. While very young I had such an intense desire to be 
a preacher that I shed many tears because I was not a boy so that 
I could be a preacher when a man. At the age of twelve, leaving 
day school for boarding school, I had a longing desire to lead my 
school-mates to Jesus and during recess preached to them with 
tearful earnestness from the text, 'Repent,' and as I pleaded with 
them my congregation were all in tears, the Holy Spirit was upon 






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Woman's Foreign Missionary Society 31 

us. From that time, frequently, when a girl in my teens, after 
hearing a sermon that stirred me, I wanted to exhort, but in the 
Congregational church 'women must keep silence/ As a Sabbath 
school teacher and superintendent I found delight and often the 
desire to preach came to me. As I thought of the article in the 
Independent, the thought came, after all these years is God about to 
honor me to preach the gospel? Is it possible that my youthful 
aspirations are to be realized? I talked with the Lord and waited 
to hear what he would say to me. Having been called into the work 
of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, it proved to be the 
open door for the preaching of the gospel. One morning after 
having delivered a missionary address, the pastor said: 'Mrs. 
Nind, you ought to preach.' She responded : 'Preach ; I have no 
sermon.' He replied: 'Make one and come and preach in my 
church.' Some weeks afterwards I preached my first sermon for 
this pastor and he encouraged and kindly criticised. The Lord 
helped me and blessed me with another service on this circuit. 
Other pastors called for help in revival meetings, camp meetings, 
district meetings, etc., etc. I recognized the Divine call. How 
could I doubt it?" 

In order to be able to answer all these calls, it was necessary 
to provide the best of care for the home and the children, and as the 
father's business necessitated his being much away from home the 
eldest daughter filled in a large part her mother's place. In all her 
travels and busy active missionary and evangelistic life the sight of 
home and the dear ones there was constantly before mother, the 
weekly letters never failed to come and it was always with the 
greatest joy that she came back to "Home, Sweet Home." The 
days at home were filled with work and plans for the comfort of the 
dear ones while she should be away. It was always a trial and a 
sacrifice for her to leave home, but father, devoted as he was to his 
Mary, made as great if not a greater sacrifice in giving up the idol 
of his heart for the work of Christ. When after a few years his 
travels ceased and he was at home alone much of the time, the 
sacrifice was still greater, for no man ever enjoyed home and wife 



32 Mary Clarke Nind 

and children more than he, and yet he counted it an honor to give 
mother up for this work. Proud of her abilities, joying in her joy, 
rejoicing in her successes and doing all in his power to make the 
work and the way easy for her, arranging her itineraries and 
always watching and waiting for her return with the greatest long- 
ing, for as mother once wrote: "How we do enjoy the days when 
we can be together in our dear home where my James and I can be 
all and in all to each other and recount the Lord's dealings with us 
during our separation. Will the time ever come when these partings 
will be over?" 

Methinks now of the happy times they are having in the land 
where partings are unknown and where the dear husband watched 
and waited so many years for the coming of his Mary. 

In 1872 the call came to deliver the annual address for the 
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society at St. Louis, and here she met 
Mrs. Lucy E. Prescott, with whom for years she traveled and 
labored both in evangelistic and missionary work. The souls of 
Mary and Lucy were knit together as the souls of Jonathan and 
David. It was a great comfort to our father that mother was not 
alone when away from home, for in those early days there were 
many hardships to be encountered and our mother was subject to 
frequent attacks of severe headache and also acute tonsilitis. To- 
gether these women conducted many most successful revival meet- 
ings in the Northern and Western states and visited in their 
missionary work most of the states and territories of the Northwest. 

They were always most zealous, not only in their work, but 
eager to make every cent count for the missionary society, and so 
they traveled without Pullman or dining cars, and often sat up a 
good part of the night in some cold or dingy depot, waiting for 
their trains or traveled in freight or accommodation cars. In the 
early seventies there were few wealthy people in the West, and 
while friends were most hospitable and kind, these good women 
"endured much hardness as good soldiers." Cyclones and railway 
wrecks were not infrequent and yet, as mother often wrote in her 
diary, "Out of all these disasters the Lord has mercifully delivered 




LUCY E. PRESCOTT (Vane) 



MARY CLARKE NIND 



These pictures were taken about the time they began their labors together in behalf of 
Foreign Missions in 1872 



Woman's Foreign Missionary Society 33 

us." Mrs. Prescott was most successful in leading children's and 
young people's meetings, and in all their evangelistic efforts they 
were made glad by seeing people of all ages and of every condition 
in society brought to the foot of the cross, and believers strength- 
ened and built up in the faith. Over and over again in her diaries 
and in her letters to her children mother expresses her joy at the 
salvation of those for whom she labored in such words as these: 
"No joy like seeing souls saved and the work of God moving 
forward. How can we rest satisfied with anything less? Very 
weary tonight, but so happy in seeing souls saved. Oh, what a 
privilege, what a joy to be able to lead souls to Christ. Nothing 
like it." Mrs. Vane (nee Mrs. Prescott) writes of her association 
of work with Mrs. Nind as follows: 

The western branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, called 
also the St. Louis Branch, was organized in St. Louis April 4, 1870, by Mrs. 
Jennie F. Willing. I was elected corresponding secretary of the Branch, with 
Miss Isabella S. Leonard assistant secretary. It was during that year that 
Miss Leonard went to Winona, Minn., and enlisted Mrs. Nind in the work. 
An account is given herewith, written by your mother in June, 1871. 

At the close of the first year of the work a speaker for the Branch Anni- 
versary must be found. The committee on program thought of Mrs. Willing, 
but as she had given the address at the time of the organization, another 
was desired for this occasion. 

I was in correspondence with Mrs. Dr. Frances A. Seymour, of Jefferson- 
ville, Ind. She suggested Mrs. Mary C. Nind, of Winona, Minn., saying that 
she had heard that "Mrs. Nind was a very acceptable speaker at Sunday 
school conventions. ' ' 

I immediately wrote to Mrs. Nind, asking if she would come to St. Louis 
and deliver the address if the committee which would soon meet invited her. 
She replied that she ' ' could never say no to God 's call. ' ' When the committee 
met I suggested Mrs. Nind's name. Strong opposition was made to inviting a 
lady to speak before a St. Louis audience whom none of us had seen nor 
heard. We adjourned to meet again. I was instructed to make every effort 
to find a suitable person. We met again and I had no one to nominate except 
Mrs. Nind. Still they did not consent to asking her to come. The last 
meeting of the committee was close to the time of the annual meeting and 
still I nominated Mrs. Nind. As the ladies had no one to nominate, asking 
me if I would "take the responsibility of the meeting being a failure" 
and having secured assurance from the Lord that He was responsible, I said 



34 Mary Clarke Nind 



her to come. Mrs. Nind arrived in St. Louis after 10 p. m. Not having 
waited for instructions for entertainment at one of our most beautiful homes, 
she came at once to me. 

The annual meeting was very largely attended. Mrs. Nind's address was 
most excellent and so powerfully accompanied by the Holy Spirit that all 
hearts were won for the new enterprise, the Woman's Foreign Missionary 
Society. Subscriptions were taken and the sister who was so fearful that 
bringing a "stranger whom we had never seen nor heard before a St. Louis 
audience" said, "I thank you so much for getting Mrs. Nind for this occa- 
sion, ' ' and together with her family subscribed $250. 

This was my introduction to your blessed mother. During that visit we 
planned for her to go into Kansas to organize auxiliaries and interest the 
churches in the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. 

At the close of her itinerary she returned to St. Louis and after much 
prayer together we decided that the Lord would open the way for us to work 
together, which He did shortly after. 

When I arrived in Winona I found that she had appointments made for us 
for two months. This was the beginning of our work together, which lasted 
without interruption until the Western Branch became, by addition of terri- 
tory and prosperity, so large that it was deemed necessary for the good of 
the cause to make three branches out of the one — the Topeka, Minnesota and 
Des Moines. 

Soon after we became associated in this close relation in the work, Miss 
Leonard felt called to give her time exclusively to evangelistic work, and Mrs* 
Nind was selected Branch assistant secretary. 

When the Branch was divided your mother was elected an officer in the 
Minnesota Branch and I of the Des Moines Branch. Thus we became sepa- 
rated after about thirteen years of most precious fellowship in work for God 
and women and girls across the seas. 

May I add a testimony to the beauty and rarity of Mrs. Nind's character. 
I knew her most intimately in her home life, with a devoted Christian husband, 
who gave her to the work because he believed her called of God to it; with 
converted children who loved and honored their mother; in social life where 
she was the center of influence; in public life where not only almost whole 
churches were moved to interest in saving the unsaved in dark lands, but 
where many souls were saved and sanctified in the length and breadth of 
our large Branch. She was such a joyous, well poised soul that I often said 
of her, "almost faultless." 

Now, after the years have passed, I write that she was one of the most 
perfect witnesses of the doctrine of "perfect love," which she not only 
professed but preached, I ever knew. 



Woman's Foreign Missionary Society 35 

At the close of the year 1874 mother wrote in her diary: 
"Farewell, old year, you have brought multiplied labors, duties, 
responsibilities, trials, losses, disappointments, joys, successes. The 
whole is summed up with a grateful heart and I write it up the 
best and happiest year of my life." The following year she writes : 
"This year has been one of much mercy. I have traveled 6,120 
miles and seen wonderful displays of God's power to save in 
Michigan and Iowa, and as this year closes I praise the Lord for 
all his wonderful works." 

As the children grew up and were settled in business or school 
mother was able to devote more time, and although they were 
scattered and father was traveling much of the time, yet the 
weekly letters never failed to come with promptness to each and 
every one, and as often as possible she visited her loved ones in 
their various homes for longer or shorter periods. No place was 
quite so dear to her as the home where she could meet her beloved 
and devoted husband, and no joy greater than when the members 
of the family were home and all together for a few weeks or days 
at a time. In 1877 she says : "This year I have traveled 6,592 
miles by rail or stage and walked the balance, making about 7,000 
miles at least, and was at home fifteen weeks altogether." 

In 1878, the oldest son having married and settled in Minneapolis, 
and father having decided to give up traveling, a great longing to 
be near the dear son and for business reasons, it was decided to 
remove to Minneapolis, and here a new home and church life began 
with added responsibilities in the missionary work. Early in 1879 
new associations were formed, many of which became among the 
dearest of her life. 




JAMES G. NIND 

This is one of the last pxtures taken of him. It was taken a short time 
preceecing his death on May 7. 1885 




MARY CLARKE NIND 



This is a picture taken of her about the time of her greatect activity 
and soon after the death of her husband 



CHAPTER VIII 

LATER LABORS 

As added responsibilities and new work were given for the 
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society less time could be given to 
evangelistic labor and yet, whenever time and opportunity offered, 
it gave her greatest joy, and was considered a higher privilege to 
assist in all evangelistic efforts. At the close of the year 1879, 
mother wrote in her diary: "The year has ended and as I review 
the year I am full of praise, for all the way the dear Lord has led 
me. It has been an eventful year. We have moved to Minneapolis 
and are most happily located. I have been able to spend only ten 
weeks in the city, five weeks in the old home at Winona and the 
balance in working for Christ. We have visited Nebraska and have 
traveled 650 or 700 miles in it and have been greatly blessed in 
our work. I have traveled 9,000 miles this year and have greatly 
enjoyed my work for Christ in connection with the Woman's For- 
eign Missionary Society. We have attended the annual meeting at 
Atchison, Kansas, and the executive meeting in Chicago. I have not 
been able to do much special evangelistic work because of the pres- 
sure of the missionary work, but at Spring Valley the Lord gave 
us a blessed work. Many souls were saved and all along the line the 
Word preached has been blessed to some souls." In 1880, 500 miles 
were traveled in Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio. In 
all of these travels, she was constantly meeting friends of earlier 
days, old Sabbath school scholars and those who had been led to 
Christ through her instrumentality. Often she remarks that there 
is no greater joy than meeting her friends of earlier days, and espe- 
cially those to whom God has helped her to be a blessing. In 1881, 
she writes, "A year of signal mercies. I have traveled over 10,000 
miles and been very near a wreck. Our coach was thrown off the 
track and we on an embankment between 30 and 40 feet high, but 



38 Mary Clarke Nind 

we were spared when within a few inches of going over. It has 
been a year of the most constant work for the Woman's Foreign 
Missionary Society. I have been absent from home eight months out 
of the twelve in labors abundant and in places, east, west, north 
and south. I have never had more joy in the work and more de- 
light in sacrificing for it." In 1881 she was made president of the 
Western Branch and filled an office from which she shrank. The 
work of the branch greatly prospered, and in a few years it became 
so large that she secured a division and assisted in the organization 
of the three branches — the Des Moines, Minneapolis and Topeka. 
Of this division she writes : "One of my greatest trials this year 
has been the division of the Western branch, which separates me 
from my beloved Lucy, and all the dear officers of the dear Western 
Branch, but the Lord and his work are dearer to me and to us than 
the workers and I seek grace for the trial and for the new responsi- 
bilities imposed upon me as corresponding secretary of the Minne- 
apolis Branch. Very lonely I feel up here without the old standard 
bearers, but Jesus says, 'Lo, I am with you alway.' ,: The year 
previous to the division, she experienced a trial and yet a joy in 
giving her youngest son to the work of a foreign missionary in 
South America. A few years later a daughter went to China. Al- 
though it rent her mother heart to be so far separated from her dear 
children, yet she bade them a hearty God-speed and followed them 
constantly with her prayers and sympathies, ever taking a loving 
interest in all their work. 

In the fall of 1884, while on her way to attend the General Ex- 
ecutive committee, mother was badly injured in a railroad wreck. 
From this injury she never fully recovered. And yet she always 
counted it a great mercy that her life was spared. In writing of 
this accident to her children she remarked that Saturday had been 
an eventful day in her life. She says : "I was born on Saturday, I 
was married on Saturday, sailed for America on Saturday, and 
reached Father Nind's on Saturday. All of my children except one 
were born on Saturday. I have been in two severe cyclones and 
three serious railway wrecks, all of which occurred on Saturday. I 



Later Labors 39 

sometimes wonder if I shall go to glory on Saturday." Strange as 
it may seem her spirit left this world on Saturday night. 

The following year brought to her the greatest trial of her life 
for in May the Lord took from her him whom she called "The dear- 
est and best and kindest of husbands." Writing to her children at 
the end of the year she says : "The year 1885 is gone and its record 
is on our hearts and lives and with the Master who knows and 
weighs all. To me it has been the most eventful year of my life. Per- 
sonal disability and sickness, financial losses and the greatest loss of 
all, my precious husband, your honored and now glorified father. 
As I review the year and realize how much the Lord has brought 
me through, how heavy have been my responsibilities, how arduous 
my duties with my own business and the heavy work of the Branch, 
and how much of love, care and help I have lost, and then realize 
how graciously the Lord has helped, prospered, sustained, comforted 
and helped me to triumph, yea, to glory in tribulation and therefore 
to grow in grace and have an inmost consciousness of the ever- 
abiding Christ and Comforter, my soul exults and gratefully and 
humbly I declare it to be the best and happiest year of my life. Not 
happy because of sickness, infirmity, losses and sore bereavement 
but happy in the Lord and his gracious dealings." 




THE FIRST WOMEN TO BE ELECTED TO THE GENERAL CONFER- 
ENCE OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 



Mary C. Nind 
Elizabeth D. Van Kirk 



Francis E. Willard 



Amanda C. Rippey 
Angie F. Newman 



CHAPTER IX 

ELECTED TO THE M. E. GENERAL CONFERENCE 

Early in the year 1887 the question of the admission of women 
to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church was 
taken up by the ladies of St. Paul's church in Lincoln, Neb., and 
a definite movement started to secure the election of a woman dele- 
gate to represent the Nebraska conference at the next session of 
the General Conference. A systematic correspondence was insti- 
tuted among the Methodist women of the state, and special stress 
was laid on the importance of sending women as delegates to the 
lay electoral conference. When this conference assembled in Lin- 
coln it was found that about twenty women were among the ac- 
credited delegates. The night before the conference met, a delega- 
tion of ladies waited upon Mrs. Angie F. Newman of that city, 
and requested the privilege of presenting her name in nomination 
as the woman to be elected. Mrs. Newman had been active through- 
out the state as superintendent of prison work for the Woman's 
Christian Temperance Union, and in organizing the work of the 
Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Societies, and it was be- 
lieved she would be a popular candidate and a worthy representa- 
tive should she be elected. Mrs. Newman was in sympathy with 
the movement and consented to the nomination, although her ex- 
pectations were suggested in her reply to the delegation, that if 
they desired some one as a subject of martyrdom she supposed she 
might as well serve as any one else. She proved a popular candi- 
date and her election was made unanimous and the conference was 
greatly elated. 

The movement so well inaugurated in Nebraska took hold of 
other conferences. The lay electoral conference of Minnesota was 
held in the Centenary Methodist church, in the city of Minneap- 
olis, Friday, October 14, 1887. The minutes of that conference 



42 Mary Clarke Nind 

give the following record: "An informal ballot was taken for dele- 
gates to the General Conference, which resulted in giving Mrs. 
Mary C. Nind 70, Geo. H. Hazzard 65, Hon. H. R. Brill 47, and 
the rest scattering. A formal ballot was taken which resulted as 
follows : Whole number of votes cast 121, necessary for choice 
61. Mrs. Mary C. Nind received 89, Geo. H. Hazzard 70, Judge 
Brill 47, Hon. F. W. Hoyt 19, and the balance scattering. The 
president announced Mrs. Mary C. Nind and Geo. H. Hazzard 
elected, and on motion their election was made unanimous." 

It was an interesting fact that neither Mrs. Newman nor Mrs. 
Nind were present at the electoral conferences which selected them 
from among the women of their states as material worthy of a 
great experiment in the history of the Methodist Church. Three 
other women were thus honored: Frances E. Willard of Rock 
River Conference, Amanda C. Rippey of the Kansas Conference 
and Lizzie D. Vankirk of the Pittsburg Conference. Besides the 
five delegates above mentioned there were seventeen women elected 
as reserve delegates, making a total of twenty-two women as pos- 
sible delegates to the General Conference of 1888. 

Before the General Conference convened the church enjoyed a 
thorough discussion of the question whether women were eligible 
as lay delegates, and interest was at its height when the confer- 
ence assembled in the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, 
May 1, 1888. In view of the prominence which this question assumed 
in the history of the Methodist Episcopal Church during the next 
sixteen years — a period of successive struggles, advancing senti- 
ment and progressive legislation, culminating in the admission of 
women into the General Conference at Los Angeles in 1904, it 
may not be out of place to give somewhat in detail, as gathered 
from the Conference Journal and the Daily Advocate, an account of 
this first attempt to give woman a place in the highest legislative 
and judicial body of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Before the roll of the conference was called Bishop Bowman 
presented a paper giving a statement from the Board of Bishops 
as to the eligibility of certain delegates-elect against the seating of 



Elected to the M. E. General Conference 43 

whom protests had been lodged in their hands. The paper was as 
follows : 

"The Bishops find names proposed for a place on the roll of 
the General Conference which belong to a class of persons never 
heretofore admitted to membership in that body, and whose right 
to be admitted has never been determined, nor even considered by 
the supreme authority of the Church, so that neither the Church nor 
the highest tribunal known to her laws, has ever expressed a judg- 
ment in relation to their eligibility. We also find some names of 
persons certified as elected by electoral conferences, in the bounds 
of which they neither reside nor hold membership. And, further- 
more, we find that against the admission of all these persons pro- 
tests, responsibly signed, and taking the form of challenges of their 
right to be admitted, have been prepared and are lodged in our 
hands, to be presented when the question of their admission comes 
before the conference. 

"In view of these facts the bishops, fully sensible of the gravity 
of the issues involved, and feeling anxious that the subject be pre- 
sented to the General Conference for action without prejudice to 
the rights of any party in the case, have agreed, after mature de- 
liberation, first, that they have no jurisdiction in the matter of the 
eligibility of the classes of persons in question; and, second, that 
the General Conference, which must pronounce upon the issues in 
the case, can only exercise its jurisdiction when duly organized. 

"Therefore in the nature of the case, there must be a General 
Conference, with a quorum of unchallenged delegates, before the 
claims of the parties thus challenged can be presented. Then, in- 
asmuch as no right is put in jeopardy by the omission from the 
preliminary roll call of the names of persons whose eligibility is 
disputed, and no prejudice is created for or against their claims, 
and in order to the utmost fairness and impartiality in the issues to 
be presented to the General Conference, it has been decided by the 
bishops — the authorized interpreters of the law till the General 
Conference is organized — that the names of the parties whose eligi- 
bility is challenged upon constitutional grounds shall not be called 



44 Mary Clarke Nind 

till after a constitutional quorum of unchallenged delegates shall 
have been ascertained to be present, and the body is duly organ- 
ized for business. It will then be competent for the Conference to 
act upon the cases in question in such way as its sense of justice 
and right shall dictate as lawful and expedient. 

"In the meantime, dear brethren, aware as we all are that we 
stand in the presence of several questions of grave importance and 
great delicacy, concerning which there are differences of opinion, 
we suggest the exercise of patience and moderation, and urge 
upon you the duty of prayer for the presence and help of the divine 
Master, whose servants we are and whose Church we love. May 
the God of peace and love himself preside over and illuminate and 
tranquillize our minds for the duties before us." 

The presiding bishop then announced : "The secretary of the last 
General Conference will now call the roll prepared in conformity to 
the principles enunciated, and so soon as the Conference shall have 
elected a secretary to make record of its proceedings we will pre- 
sent the names requiring your deliberation." 

After the conference was organized and Rules of Order for its 
government adopted, J. W. Hamilton presented the following reso- 
lution, which was adopted: 

Besolved, That two committees be appointed, each consisting of one dele- 
gate from each of the General Conference Districts, and four delegates at 
large, to whom shall be referred respectively the eligibility of the delegates 
to this conference who are women, and all others whose right to membership 
has been challenged. And that the committee on the eligibility of the 
women be instructed to report to the conference at ten o 'clock tomorrow 
morning. 

Bishop Bowman announced the names of all persons against 
whose admission protests had been presented, as follows : Amanda 
C. Rippey, Kansas Conference; Mary C. Nind, Minnesota Confer- 
ence; Angie F. Newman, Nebraska Conference; Lizzie D. Van- 
kirk, Pittsburg Conference; Frances E. Willard, Rock River Con- 
ference; John E. Richards, Montana Conference; Robert E. Pat- 
tison, North India Conference; John M. Phillips, Mexico Confer- 



Elected to the M. E. General Conference 45 

ence. The names of the committee on the eligibility of women 
were presented by Bishop Andrews. 

Wednesday morning at ten o'clock the order of the day was 
taken up and Amos Shinkle presented the report of the Committee 
on the Eligibility of Women as Delegates to the Conference, and it 
was made the order of the day for the next morning immediately 
following the reading of the journal. This report was as follows : 

The special committee of seventeen, to which was referred the eligibility 
of women as lay delegates to the General Conference respectfully submit the 
following report: Whereas, after serious consideration and a free dis- 
cussion for several hours they are convinced that, under the Second Kestrictive 
Rule, which was altered by the constitutional process, the church con- 
templated the admission of men only as lay representatives; and that as it 
has never been consulted or expressed its desire upon the admission of women 
to the General Conference, they are compelled to report for adoption the fol- 
lowing resolutions: 

1. That under the constitution and laws of the church as they now are 
women are not eligible as lay delegates to the General Conference. 

2. That the protest referred to this committee against the seating of 
Amanda C. Eippey, Mary C. Mnd, Angie F. Newman, Lizzie D. Vankirk 
and Frances E. Willard is sustained by the Discipline; and, therefore, they 
cannot legally be admitted to seats. 

3. That the secretary of the General Conference shall notify the legally 
elected reserve delegates from these conferences that the seats herein referred 
to are vacant. 

Thursday morning a resolution was presented to the effect that 
all persons whose seats are held in question be invited to seats upon 
the Conference floor pending the discussion of their rights, but be- 
fore action was taken the order of the day was called. 

The secretary read the report above recorded, but in view of its 
great importance the Conference decided to postpone its discussion 
until the next day, and made it the order of the day immediately 
following the reading of the journal. 

Friday morning the order of the day was taken up. T. B. Neely 
moved to amend the report by the following : 

But since there is great interest in this question, and since the church 



46 Mary Clarke Nind 

generally should be consulted in regard to such an important matter, therefore 
be it 

Besolved, That we submit to the Annual Conferences to amend the second 
Eestrietive Eule by adding the words "and said delegates may be men or 
women" after the words "two Lay Delegates for an Annual Conference, ' ' 
so that it will read "nor of more than two Lay ."Helegates from an Annual 
Conference, and said delegates may be men or women." 

The debate on the subject before the Conference was partici- 
pated in by many of the most prominent delegates, and a battle 
royal raged for the greater part of the sessions of Friday, Satur- 
day and Monday mornings. The crucial point in the discussion 
was on the constitutionality of admitting the women elected — 
largely a question of interpretation of the term "laymen" as used 
in the legislation of 1872, as to whether it legally included lay 
women as well as lay men. J. M. Buckley, who for many months 
had been making a heroic defense of the constitution of the church 
against the admission of women, argued that the intent of the 
lawmakers determined the meaning of the law, and believed lay 
men would never have been admitted to the General Conference 
in 1872 if the Church had understood the term lay men to include 
women. He favored the submission of the question to the Church 
at large, clinching his argument with the characteristic remark: 
" 'He that cometh in by the door' the same hath a right to come in, 
but he that cometh in another way, is not as respectable as in the 
other case." 

A series of resolutions presented by D. H. Moore, a valiant 
defender of the claims of the women-elect, providing for the 
seating of the women now knocking for admission, and for a 
reference of the question of constitutionality to the annual 
conferences and lay membership of the Church, was not gen- 
erally acceptable. Prominent members of the Conference be- 
lieved that a good majority of the delegates would gladly vote for 
the admission ot the women if this vote could be given without a 
cloud of illegality hanging over the action. Many friends of the 
admission of women preferred delay rather than immediate action 



Elected to the M. E. General Conference 47 

granting their admission, in order that a more abundant entrance 
might be given women by a vote of the entire Church on this mo- 
mentous question. 

The great debate, one of the greatest in the history of the de- 
velopment of the constitution of the Methodist Church, was brought 
to an end near the close of Monday morning's session by John 
Lanahan moving the previous question on the entire subject. A 
motion to accept the substitute presented by D. H. Moore did not 
prevail. The amendment offered by T. B. Neely was adopted by 
a count vote of 249 for, 173 against. A call for vote by orders on 
the report as amended was not sustained, but a call for the ayes and 
noes was sustained and the vote so ordered. An analysis of the 
vote shows the following: Ayes, ministerial, 159; lay, 78; noes, 
ministerial, 122; lay, 76; a total of ayes, 237; noes, 198. 

Of the five women delegates-elect, only four appeared at the 
Conference. Frances E. Willard was called home by the very se- 
rious illness of her mother at the inception of the discussion. Angie 
F. Newman, Amanda C. Rippey and Mary C. Nind remained 
through the debate ready to take their seats if the Conference 
should declare their admission constitutional. During this his- 
toric debate Mrs. Nind enjoyed a seat in the gallery. The simple 
record on the subject in her diary covering these days of intense 
excitement and momentous interest, is as follows : "Wednesday, 
May 2, Bishops' address and report on eligibility of women all 
against us, but if the Lord be for us, what matters? Friday, May 
4. Another day of sharp debate, but no conclusions reached. Sat- 
urday, May 5. Still another day. Monday, May 7. Today we were 
ejected from our seats by a majority of 37 clerical and 2 lay votes, 
and the great debate is over, to come up again in 1892. All is 
serene in my soul." 

Mrs. Nind remained through the greater part of the Con- 
ference an interested spectator, meeting many old friends and par- 
ticipating in various missionary gatherings. May 25, with her 
elder daughter, she sailed for London to attend the General Con- 
ference of Missions, a body of 1,500 delegates, to which she had 



48 Mary Clarke Mind 

been elected as a representative of the Woman's Foreign Mission- 
ary Society. 

During these meetings Mrs. Nind was particularly successful 
in presenting the cause of "Woman's Work in the Far Away 
Fields," and at the close of its sessions, she once more revisited the 
home of her childhood and former friends and acquaintances. Re- 
turning to America she settled in Detroit which remained her home 
until called to the glory-land. During the last eight years of 
Mrs. Nind's residence in Minneapolis she had served the Min- 
neapolis Branch as corresponding secretary and ever afterwards 
her name stood at the head of its list of officers as President 
Emeritus. 

Mrs. Winchell, in writing of her, says : "Beloved as she has been 
the world over and potent as has been her love and influence 
throughout Methodism, it seems to us that she was dearer to the 
Minneapolis Branch than to any other. To us she stood in the re- 
lation of mother to child. She was indeed practically the founder 
of the Branch, and she labored for years in this new territory, 
laying broad and firm the foundations upon which to build it. She 
gave to the Branch freely, gladly, of time, thought, prayer, love, 
and money, and although after eight years of service as its chief, 
she left us to reside in Detroit, Mich., yet she never for a moment 
lost her interest in us any more than can a mother forget her 
child." 

In 1891 she visited Ontario in Canada and was successful in 
raising large sums of money for the cause of missions. 

The winter of 1892-3 was spent in California. The climate and 
scenery were greatly enjoyed, the old friendships renewed and the 
new friendships formed were most delightful. The work done for 
the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society was, as she herself 
expressed it, "the hardest I have ever done in my life." She was 
successful, however, in arousing a foreign missionary spirit all 
along the Pacific coast, which has constantly increased from that 
time to this. It was while spending these months on the shores of 
the Pacific that a greater desire than ever came to her to cross the 



Elected to the M. E. General Conference 49 

great waters and visit the foreign fields, but after much prayer and 
consultation, she decided that it was not best to make the voyage 
at that time, and returned to her home in Detroit. Upon her re- 
turn from this western journey, she writes: "Is there any place in 
the world so sweet as home after a long, weary trip? How sweet 
to behold again the dear familiar faces, feel the arms of loving em- 
brace, surround one's own table, rest in one's own chamber and 
when trunk and satchel are unpacked and everything restored to 
its wonted place, have the sweet consciousness that the Master 
saith, 'Come ye apart and rest a while.' Sweet, blessed rest for body 
and soul." 



CHAPTER X 

AROUND THE WORLD— JAPAN 

In order to give as short and comprehensive an account as pos- 
sible of Mary C. Nind's journey around the world, it seems best 
to the authors, so far as possible, to give copies of her letters which 
were written at that time. The first is headed from "Occident to 
Orient" : 

"May i, 1894, we left Detroit, Michigan, for the land of the ris- 
ing sun. Who ? *Bishop Ninde and wife, their two sons, George and 
Frederick, and Mary C. Nind. A goodly company of brethren 
and sisters, pastors and people from our churches met us at the 
depot and with kind words, pleasant smiles and the singing of the 
precious hymn, 'Blest be the tie that binds,' we bade farewell to 
each other. Arriving in Chicago other friends met us : Mrs. Emily 
Huntington Miller, Mrs. Prescott Vane, Mrs. E. K. Stanley, treas- 
urer of the Des Moines Branch, the beloved son of his mother, John 
Newton Nind, and other dear relatives. Just before the time to 
take our sleeper, Miss Florence Singer, under appointment for 
Hakodati, Japan, arrived and Mr. and Mrs. Meyer of the Chicago 
Training School, with blessed benediction, and Brother Blackstone 
and wife. We had a little season of prayer in the depot and re- 
joicing in the fellowship of the saints went to our sleeper bound for 
San Francisco. The weather was beautiful and the passengers 
pleasant. Three and a half days from Chicago, our train steamed 



*Bishop William X. Ninde was a second cousin of James G. Nind. The 
final e was added to the name of the family of Bishop Ninde by his father. 
This will explain the difference in the spelling of the names. In latter 
life, and beginning about the time of the removal of Mary C. Nind to 
Detroit, a close intimacy sprang up between her and Bishop Ninde and the 
members of his household. It was through the influence of Bishop Ninde 
that the subject of this memorial was induced to accompany himself and 
family on the tour of the world. 



52 Mary Clarke Nind 

into Oakland depot and taking the ferry, we were soon in San 
Francisco, thence to the Occidental Hotel where all missionaries 
stay, glad to rest a while. Scarcely had we washed the dust from 
our faces before the bell boy announced that Doctor A. C. Hirst 
and Reverend Filbee were waiting to see us. Service for the Sab- 
bath was asked to which the bishop and the representative of the 
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society responded. Sunday was a 
busy day, too busy for weary travelers, but how difficult to say 
'No' when an opportunity for usefulness presents itself even at the 
peril of nervous force. 

"Our stay in San Francisco was prolonged so that we did 
not sail until May 14 in the City of Rio de Janeiro. What a blessed 
send off those dear people gave us at the wharf. Space will not 
allow me to give all the names nor tell of all the floral gifts and 
words of cheer and pledged prayers from Bishop Goodsell and 
family, Dr. A. C. Hirst and family and very many others from 
Oakland and San Francisco. 

"Our voyage was rough and stormy with the exception of two 
days out of the seventeen. The Pacific was often 'Tempestuous 
and Terrific' and so disappointed us, but, 'He who holds the winds 
in his fist and the waters in the hollows of his hands' brought us 
in safety to our desired haven on Monday, June the 4th. The Lord 
was very gracious to me and I was saved through all the rough 
weather from sea-sickness. I was able to report at the table three 
times a day, though I often had to make heroic efforts to do so. 
Not being enamored with the Japanese sampans, taking a tug, we 
reached the shore and very easily and quickly passed the customs. 
We were met by our dear missionaries, Miss Simons from the Bal- 
timore Branch, Miss Griffiths from the Des Moines Branch, Miss 
Vail of the General Missionary Society, Miss Watson of the To- 
peka Branch, by some of the native pastors and by Mrs. Cleve- 
land, wife of the presiding elder. Taking our first jinrikasha ride, 
which we all enjoyed except for the feeling that the cooly was 
doing the work of a horse, we arrived at the mission premises 
where is our training school. Miss Griffiths and Miss Simons are 



Around the World — Japan 53 

missionaries devoted to their work and blessed in it. We all took 
tea together and several of the native pastors called and an added 
joy was to find Dr. Kate Bushnell and Mrs. Andrews, who 
have been round the world since last November, quartered here 
and we were just in time to have a few hours with them before 
taking their steamer to San Francisco. Last time we met in Evan- 
ston, now in Yokohama. These weary laborers were on their way 
home for a well earned rest. God bless them and their work. If 
these meetings are so sweet what will it be when all the laborers 
gather in their Father's house above? Watts writes and we sing 
with him : 

" There on a green and flowery mountain 

Our weary souls shall meet; 
And with transporting joy recount 

The labors of our feet." 

"Last evening in our Womans' Foreign Missionary Home at 
Tokio we had an enjoyable time. Tokio is 18 miles from Yoko- 
hama and is reached by rail. The cars remind us of the English 
trains, first, second and third class. As we are missionaries and 
economical, we take third class and pay twenty cents. We passed 
rice fields where men and women knee deep in mud were working, 
and wheat fields where the harvesting was in progress, the heads 
of the wheat being cut off by a little hand instrument, laid in piles, 
and then carried on the shoulders of men to the places of thresh- 
ing, where it is beaten by a flail in primitive style. Arriving at 
Tokio station, clean and neat, where polite employees wait upon 
you, carrying your baggage to the Kurima or jinriksha, a ride of 
twenty minutes brings us to our Tokio Home, where Miss Spencer, 
Miss Watson and Miss Locke are the hostesses and missionaries. 
A reception is the order of exercises for the evening. Native pas- 
tors and teachers, among them a graduate from Evanston who is 
a classmate of the Rev. Edward Ninde, the girls and women con- 
nected with the Home, educated, converted and now lights in the 
world, and the missionaries and their wives all contribute to the 



54 Mary Clarke Nind 

joy of the occasion. About seventy sat down to the table and en- 
joyed social cheer while partaking of refreshments; then followed 
music, vocal and instrumental. The company sang in English and 
Japanese that precious hymn, 'How firm a foundation.' How in- 
spiring to behold the results of the labors of our missionaries and 
realize we have some part in this work so honored of God ! 

"Bishop Ninde spoke of the joy that filled his heart as he was sur- 
rounded by so many brethren and sisters in the Lord and of the 
fact that twenty-five years ago there were only eight Christians in 
Japan, while now there is over 30,000. What might we not expect 
within the next twenty-five years? His entire speech was inter- 
preted almost verbatim by one of our native preachers, who has a 
remarkable faculty of taking in an entire address and then giving 
it in Japanese. A few words from your correspondent found their 
way to the ears of the Japanese through the skill of this brother. 
The doxology was sung and at 9:30 we were preparing for rest. 
We shall ever be grateful to our dear Miss Spencer and Miss Wat- 
son and their assistants for providing for us such a delightful even- 

mg." 

Referring to this reception in another letter, mother writes: 
"The reception at Tokio was very delightful, with missionaries, 
Japanese scholars, Bible readers and school girls. It was worth 
coming all the way to Japan to see and hear these redeemed con- 
verts. We are saved in receptions here from so much shaking 
hands. The Japanese bow almost to the ground, and all we have 
to do is to bow low. My gray hair awakens much reverence and 
to me they bow as low as to the bishop. The foreign concession 
is a beautiful spot on the bluff looking down into the city and on 
the bay. Green hedges along the road, no sidewalks. We have elec- 
tric lights but all the way a jinriksha man with his bright lantern 
will come running along illuminating the way. This mode of con- 
veyance is so nice for the rider, though it seems so hard for the 
man. It is brought right to your door when it rains, a cover like a 
buggy top, curtains in front so that the rain cannot enter, and so 
cheap — five cents for two miles, and one all to yourself. I prefer 




LUCY PRESCOTT VANE 



This is a later picture of Mrs. Prescoft Vane, who was so long a 
co-worker -with Mary C. Nind 



Around the World — Japan 55 

them to street cars. There are very few carriages here. We have 
cereal food and strawberries for breakfast. We have had strawber- 
ries almost every day and such fine ones, in such large dishes. They 
are sold by the hundred, counted out when you buy them. Three 
cents for five hundred was the price today. 

"On Children's Day I attended the exercises of Miss Simons' 
day and Sunday school, over which Mrs. Ny No Mya presided, 
the wife of the lay representative to General Conference. A mixed 
audience and a large one, but she went through the program as 
well as any woman. It was a long program, yet through it all the 
children were so orderly and quiet. They recited many portions 
of scripture and poems, sang and made addresses, the best of which 
was by a blind boy, twelve years of age. The Bible woman, one of 
our Yokohama graduates, led in prayer. One of the local teachers 
and myself made addresses, interpreted by the Bible woman. The 
pastor baptized six children. The exercises lasted two hours. The 
house was crowded, people standing around the doors. My soul 
was greatly stirred to see these children brought from heathen 
homes and many who were present, both children and adults saved 
by 'The mighty to save.' 

"The next day Mrs. Ninde and I started for Nagoya, riding in 
second-hand English cars. There are long lounges the whole length 
and a short one at one end of the car, and a toilet room at the other 
end, so that you can lie down, if the car is not full, better than in 
a drawing-room car in the United States. As our car both ways 
was nearly empty, we had well nigh a private car, and with our 
pillows and rugs had a restful time, though slow. We were twelve 
and one-half hours making the trip, the distance being about the 
same as between Detroit and Chicago. The advantage of the slow 
travel is the ability to see everything along the line and it is indeed 
a wonderful trip, away from some of the great cities into the coun- 
try. Let me give you a few points of special interest. The thatched 
roofs with flowers and grasses on the top, the Hakone range of 
mountains with the world-wide famous Fujiyama, cone shaped, 
rising above the clouds, mantled in snow. This mountain is visited 



56 Mary Clarke Nind 

by all tourists but we are contented to behold it and adore its Cre- 
ator. We passed through rice fields and tea fields. In the former 
men and women were walking ankle and knee deep in mud. We 
saw the wheat harvest, the tops being cut off, the straw gathered 
in bundles and carried on the shoulders of men, then threshed with 
pounding by a wooden instrument and spread on mats to dry and 
ground between two stones as in the days of Christ. Every now 
and then, we had a glimpse of the blue Pacific and saw the fisher- 
men in the bay. We also saw many temples, some Buddhist and 
some Shintoist. We passed through many tunnels, showing that 
the road had encountered many obstacles. We saw a few horses 
in the field but they are very scarce. Men and women are beasts 
of burden. The dress of the people is varied. Some dress as we 
do, others with a pair of pants to the knee and a loose garment; 
others with a flowing garment only; some with pants only and 
some with nothing but a loin cloth; children naked as from the 
earth they came. We crossed on iron bridges, the three great rivers 
of this region, requiring great engineering, for they are very broad. 
We were delighted with their farming. Every inch of ground is 
utilized. There is no waste here. Gardens and farms are models 
of beauty and taste. 

"We visited our day school among the poor and wretched 
heathens. Oh, the odors, the filth, by which these children are 
environed! How much of self sacrifice for a teacher who spends 
her life among them ! From there we went to the kindergarten for 
the children of the upper tens. It is difficult to get the children to 
come. Right near the kindergarten school is a temple and I saw 
the deluded worshipers ascend the steps, ring the bells to call their 
gods, kneel or stand and repeat a few words, deposit a piece of 
money and then leave. An old woman was among the number with 
her earthly all tied to her back. She goes from temple to temple 
and from shrine to shrine to earn merit. At Nagoya, we have our 
best day schools, the children taking a four years' course. How 
marked the change. The longer the children are under these in- 
fluences, the more we see the blessed results of education. We were 



Around the World — Japan 57 

very much interested this morning in the calisthenic drill given by 
the teacher and required by government in all schools. How these 
children could stand in the burning sun with heads uncovered, I 
could not understand, but then, most of the people go bare-headed 
from their infancy, women always. 

"June 22d, was the day of the terrible earthquake when we so 
narrowly escaped death, though none of us were hurt beyond a se- 
vere nervous shock. Besides the one severe shock, there were four 
small shocks during the night. Forty-five lives were lost but not a 
missionary was lost though the loss to all our mission "property is 
immense. Saturday we all went to the great Buddhist Temple at 
Akasaka, popularly called Menseke, the chief religious edifice in this 
city, of the Monto sect of Buddhists founded in 1657. Huge, ugly 
idols are at the gate, thirty feet high. In an enclosure on the fence 
are hung the straw shoes of those going on a journey who have 
left them for a blessing. Inside the temple is the god of pain, whose 
features have been rubbed smooth by the poor, deluded victims who 
have first rubbed the idol, then themselves, expecting healing. A 
tank of holy water to be drank from and washed in ! Hands 
washed and wiped on filthy towels which scores if not hundreds 
use ! Every one makes an offering before they do anything, which 
goes to the sensual priests who watch eagerly for the money. 
Thousands go to this temple daily. We saw a pilgrim, dirty and 
ragged with his earthly all upon his back who had visited many 
shrines and was considered a devotee, who made long and loud 
prayers. The Buddhist do not believe in taking life, they eat no 
meat, at least one sect of them. Doves fly about the temple unmo- 
lested making everything filthy. Food is sold to feed them and it 
is considered an act of merit. A sacred horse is also kept the same 
way, a poor, dirty specimen at that. We were literally surrounded 
by these people whenever we stopped, and seemed to be of more 
interest to them than their devotions. Dirty, wretched objects, no 
smile of peace or joy lighting their faces after their devotions. 
Weary hearts finding no rest. 

"We visited the Peeress School for the daughters of the nobil- 



58 Mary Clarke Nind 

ity. The building cost about $40,000. It is very substantially but 
not elaborately built. We had to get permits and carry them with 
us when we went into the room. We visited the cooking school, 
for their girls are taught cooking, and when the Board of Educa- 
tion come to visit, they prepare a meal. We visited most of the 
rooms from kindergarten to the highest class. We saw some hand- 
some girls dressed in royal purple and maroon skirts of silk and 
satin. We saw them at their calisthenics and were amused at 
their fan drill which was very pretty and graceful. Miss Tsonda, 
the daughter of a man of high rank, is a graduate of Vassar and 
has been to Bryn Mawr. She is a highly educated lady and a 
Christian. The Japanese Government sent six of these bright girls 
to America when they were quite young to be educated. The peer- 
ess is very much interested in the education of the higher classes 
and often visits the school. We were admitted to her room where 
she receives. The portraits of the emperor and peeress were there 
but were closed. They are only opened on special occasions. The 
head or superior teachers are received by the peeress, but subordi- 
nates are expected to enter the room and bow according to the rules 
of Japanese etiquette to the pictures; it well nigh amounts to wor- 
ship. 

"Nikko, up among the mountains, is said to be the paradise of 
Japan, and for natural scenery, I suppose it is. Here are the mag- 
nificent temples, erected by aristocratic heathen, hundreds of years 
old, preserved as monuments of art and costing millions of money. 
I am in sight of the mountains about 800 feet high, all covered with 
rich foliage. A little way off is the park and the ancient road on 
either side of which are lofty pines reaching toward the clouds. 
I never saw trees with such a circumference even in California. 
The scenery is magnificent. These waterfalls, mountains, gardens, 
ravines, shady lanes with moss covered stone walls on either side 
baffle description. Nikko must be seen to be appreciated. Our 
Father has lavished wealth and beauty here where Buddhists and 
Shintoists worship in their blindness and bow down to wood and 
stone, gold and silver, brass and lacquer, and all that art can con- 



Around the World— Japan 59 

struct and adorn. Oh, how every prospect pleases and only man 

is vile! 

"About a mile away, the river comes rushing down from the 
mountains over the massive rocks and all along the river bank are 
gods, one hundred in number, images of Buddha, each one having 
a different expression. One at the end of the road is very large. 
It is said to be 300 years old. Returning, we went into a Japanese 
garden. These gardens are so beautiful and spacious. They are 
so much like public parks, only so artistic. The Japanese are full 
of art. 

"I next visited Sendai with Miss Russell of Nagasaki as trav- 
eling companion. She speaks Japanese fluently. The scenery is 
beautiful ; mountains, valleys, rice and tea fields, and gardens beau- 
tifully cultivated, the road bed good, but with only iron rails. The 
cars are kept very clean. We took first class English cars. Every 
few stations they come in and clean up, and bring in a teapot of 
hot or cold water, just which you prefer, and four tumblers, chang- 
ing them when needed. When we reached Sendai we were warmly 
welcomed by Mrs. Swartz and the Bible woman. When traveling 
in Japan we have to produce our passports to the police. Mine was 
all right. It allows me to travel all over Japan for six months, but 
Miss Russell, who had never been north before, failed to have Sen- 
dai specified and the police told her she could not stay. She had 
quite an argument with them while I waited by my jinriksha. The 
crowd gathered as they do around any foreigner. Probably a hun- 
dred persons surrounded her and the police. At last she was al- 
lowed to go to the house while Mrs. Swartz went to find a Japanese 
lawyer to see to the case. In two hours, the word came that it was 
all right, and we sang the doxology. About 1 1 p. m. the bell rang 
and our lawyer arrived, saying they had decided unless she was too 
ill or too weary to go on she must take the next train at 2 45 a. m., 
so a doctor was summoned to whom she said she was on a health 
trip, ordered by her physician, having had a sunstroke. Four 
copies of this statement had to be made and then the chief of police 
and governor were aroused from their slumbers to receive the cer- 



60 Mary Clarke Nind 

tificate and it was 6 o'clock in the morning before our lawyer got 
through and it was decided that she could remain. So much for 
Japanese passports." 



CHAPTER XI 

TRAVELS IN JAPAN 

"A few days afterwards we began our northern trip. The 
ascent to Hakodati Head, 1,150 feet, well repays one by the view, 
at the peak, of the Pacific, the shipping, the valleys below from 
which we had come, the city in the distance, the clouds beneath us 
and the bracing mountain air. Two days later, we went to the 
sulphur springs, four miles distant, in a basha, a covered wagon 
with narrow seats on each side, too narrow to sit comfortably and 
too low for six-footers. This was drawn by two skinny ponies, 
with very rude and poor harness, but we had a careful driver. We 
put up at a Japanese hotel. Some take the hot sulphur baths. The 
cost of a bath is five cents if it is private ; when you go in with 
someone else it costs nothing. These Japanese are very fond of 
bathing, but they use water hot enough to cook us. There are pub- 
lic baths on the streets. Men and women bathe together indis- 
criminately. It is no uncommon thing to see people bathing as 
you walk the streets. Those of us who did not take a bath took a 
walk in the gardens. The Japanese gardens are so beautiful. A 
wealthy merchant of this city has built him a home near the springs. 
His grounds cover twenty-five acres, where flowers, fruit and 
vegetables flourish. He has been to the United States and brought 
home seeds so that we saw various familiar flowers interspersed 
with Japanese varieties. 

"Sunday we attended the English church in the morning and 
heard a good sermon from their missionary. I preached in the 
evening to a large congregation of Japanese, Mr. Eito interpret- 
ing. He is a wealthy merchant and the first man converted in 
Hokaido, and is a very earnest temperance worker. He is presi- 
dent of the temperance society for the island. We had a good serv- 
ice, followed by an earnest prayer meeting. The following Tues- 



62 Mary Clarke Nind 

day we accepted an invitation to call on our Japanese pastor and 
wife. A Japanese house has no chairs. Every one sits on their 
heels on the mat ; but when I go, whom they call 'obaasan/ meaning 
'old woman/ they have a chair for me. After the customary tea 
and cake, we had prayer and went home. 

August the ioth Mrs. Ninde and the boys went to Yokohama. The 
boys hoped to climb the Sacred Mountain of Japan, Fuji. The Go- 
tembi Station is on the railway, three hours' ride from Yokohama, 
where guides, horses, quilts, etc., can be secured. Travelers have to 
take their own food and warm clothing, as on the summit the tem- 
perature falls below freezing at night, even during the hottest 
weather. The shortest time for ascending and descending is nine 
hours and eight minutes, of which six hours and fifty minutes is 
used in ascending. The better way is to rise at two in the morning, 
see the glorious sunrise, make the summit at mid-day and spend the 
night at the top, thus getting the sunset and the second sunrise. 

"Hirosaki, where Miss Georgiana Baucus is a devoted missionary, 
is ioo miles from Hakodoti in the interior. To make this ioo 
miles, we first walked down town, where we secured our tickets, 
then, as the steamer anchored out in the bay, we took a sampan 
with our baggage. The bay was rough and I was glad when we 
reached the steamer safely. We reached Aomori in the morning, 
then another sampan trip across the bay which was delightful. We 
deposited our baggage at the hotel and went to breakfast with 
Miss Southern of the American Episcopal Church. She is the only 
missionary in this wicked little city, and has lived alone among this 
people, greatly blessed of God in her work, especially with young 
men, some of whom are now preparing for the ministry. We took 
a jinriksha for 30 miles, and with our hand baggage and two men, 
we started out tandem, one man in the shafts, the other having a 
rope around him by which to pull. The day was fortunately cool, 
the roads good, the scenery beautiful and had we not seen so many 
dirty, unsightly people, I should have enjoyed it greatly. We 
stopped at a tea house midway, and as no foreign food is to be 
had, we brought our lunch, secured a room with tea and light re- 



Travels in Japan 63 

freshments provided. Having asked the proprietor to shut us in 
from the gaze of the crowd who gathered about the door and 
peeped in between the screens, we ate and drank in peace, leaving 
five cents, the usual fee for. accommodations. Refreshed, we took 
up our carriages and went on. As we neared the city, at the en- 
trance a very delightful scene met our view. The pastor and some 
of the leading women of the church, Bible readers, teachers and a 
number of the school girls had come out to welcome us, and stood 
on each side of the road. We alighted and walked through the 
street, followed by these people, the pastor and I heading the 
procession. We made the 30 miles with all the detentions in seven 
hours and the men seemed fresh and cheerful. The mail is car- 
ried between these two points by a man on foot, who with a pole 
over his shoulder and two bags runs along like a lamp-lighter. 
Miss Baucus lives in a Japanese house which is very simple and 
cozy. The garden is at the rear and the house front, like all small 
houses, stands out on the street, but we are sheltered from the 
gaze of outsiders by bamboo curtains and paper blinds. We take 
off our shoes in the vestibule, as no leather shoes are worn in Jap- 
anese houses, hence, the floors are always clean on which they sit 
and sleep. Hundreds of pilgrims travel great distances to pay 
homage to their mountain god with beating drums and other in- 
struments of music. For ten days they were passing our home 
with flags, banners, bands of music, songs and shouts, on horse- 
back, in carts, but most of them on foot, weary and dusty or soaked 
with rain, for the weather was variable. In vain I sought for an 
intelligible, beaming face. I saw not one among the thousands. 
On their return they dragged with ropes a huge car and men per- 
sonified dragons, rats, and elephants as deities, and those who 
dragged the car danced their heathenish dance. Forcibly to my mind 
came the scene at Mount Carmel, with Elijah and the prophets of 
Baal. When, O, when shall these pilgrims of the night become 
the pilgrims of the light! Would God that they were pilgrims to 
Mount Zion! 

"A welcome meeting was held in honor of Miss Baucus' return 



64 Mary Clarke Nind 

and my coming. The Japanese principal is a beautiful young 
woman in her manner and discipline, a very earnest Christian and 
lives to promote the interest of the poor. This is the only Christian 
girls' school in this city of 35,000 population. When we arrived, 
the teachers stood on each side of the vestibule to receive us and 
escorted us to our seats while all the congregation arose and bowed. 
The address of the principal was very touching and tender. I re- 
sponded, Miss Baucus followed, and then the children were given 
a little treat. The next day, I visited the poor school for the very 
poor children and nurses, taught by one of our earnest Christian 
girls, who was educated in Hakodoti. These nurse girls came to 
study and hear the word of God with babies, some nearly as large 
as they were, on their backs. I held another meeting with the 
Christian women here, a Bible reading with the English-speaking 
converts and addressed the boys' school which was not a Christian 
school. It was instituted 25 years ago and I am the first woman 
thus honored. 

"A few days later I woke very early to prepare for another 
journey but before I was dressed at 6:15, friends were arriving to 
say good-bye, and they continued to come until 9 o'clock. Then 
we concluded to have a farewell prayer meeting. They all sat 
around the room on their feet on the floor. Many of them brought 
little tokens. Then as I took my jinriksha they stood out on the 
street and bowed in Oriental style, low to the ground. 

"September the 13th I spent the evening at Brother Spencer's. 
He has a magic lantern and gave us views of the World's Fair, 
scenes in Japan, England and the United States. We walked home 
a mile enjoying the moonlight and the illuminations in honor of 
the emperor and his cabinet, who are in the city. We had in- 
tended leaving today, but the arrival of his Imperial Majesty is a 
rare opportunity for us to see him and we postponed our depar- 
ture. The next morning I started at half-past six to see the sights. 
The weather was auspicious. The streets were perfectly clean. 
Everybody was in their best. The police, soldiery, both infantry 
and cavalry, were out. The government schools walked in orderly 



Travels in Japan 65 

procession and from the temple where the emperor came to the 
depot, ropes were stretched on either side of the street, and from 
80,000 to 85,000 people stood more quietly than I have ever seen 
crowds stand in England or America. There was no noise, no 
loud talking, no pushing; with uncovered heads, men and women, 
foreigners and natives, stood there for hours, still patient and quiet. 
Brother Spencer had spoken to one of the policemen who belongs 
to our church to find us an advantageous place to stand, for no 
vehicles were permitted in line. Brother Spencer led the way and 
we foreigners, ten in number, speeding down, the people on the 
outer side about eight deep, gazing at us and we at them. We 
had a fine view of it all. At 9 o'clock came the Imperial baggage, 
several trunks on a cart, but each piece separately. The Imperial 
mail comes in a cart by itself. Some of the officers, highly deco- 
rated, had the national flower in gold or silver on the arm. Then 
came the cavalry, followed by the carriage, bearing the emperor 
and his prime minister, the coachman and footman, elegantly at- 
tired in green and gold and feathers in their cocked hats. The 
emperor, who is a small man, like most of the Japanese, not strik- 
ingly handsome, did not turn to right or left, and made no response 
at all. He was dressed in simple uniform. He is on his way to 
Hiroshima, moving his troops from Tokio thither and will stay among 
them for a while. This is considered as an aggressive movement, 
when you remember that before his reign, thirty years since, the 
emperor was never seen, and where and whenever he passed, every 
door and window was shut and no one permitted on the street, and 
now in the presence of gathered thousands he goes from the north 
to the south of the empire to locate the army. As soon as the 
royal party had passed, firing of cannon and fireworks continued for 
a time. I never saw suck beautiful fireworks. The sky was cloud- 
less, a perfect azure blue and they sent the national flower into 
the sky several times and then pieces in the shape of kites were 
seen flying, and balloons. It was indeed beautiful. In this city of 
200,000, there are only about 350 Christians. 

"Kobe is a favorable open port of Japan, owing to the purity 



66 Mary Clarke Nind 

and dryness of the atmosphere. We left Nagoya Saturday and 
stopped on the way at Kioto, a city of 300,000. We wanted specially 
to see the new and spacious Buddhist temple costing a million dol- 
lars. This is the temple about which so much has been written and 
said. I will not attempt to describe its magnificent architecture, 
carving and ornamentation. It must be seen to be appreciated. It 
is a marvelous structure and demonstrates the style of these Jap- 
anese people and the strength of Buddhism. One huge fraud was 
discovered. Much has been said and written about the immense 
coils of human hair contributed by the devoted women by which 
the massive pillars and timbers were drawn to the temple. Well, 
we saw them, and carefully investigated them and discovered that 
the large coils were rope over which human hair was twisted — 
enough hair to denote sacrifice, but not the immense quantity re- 
ported. The temple will be a magnificent building when com- 
pleted, not to be surpassed by any other. My expectant faith real- 
izes it will some day be a temple consecrated to the worship of the 
one living and true God. At another temple, erected in the twelfth 
century, we saw 33,333 gods ; 1,000 of these gilded images are five 
feet high, covered with brass and all represent the eleven-faced, 
thousand-handed kwannon. Pitiful sights, these gods many, but 
we thought of the promise which will surely be fulfilled, 'The idols 
He will utterly abolish,' and yet another promise, 'Their land also 
is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that 
which their fingers have made, but in that day a man shall cast 
his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they have made, each 
one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats.' Lord help 
Thy church to hasten this day. 

"From Kobi we go on to Nagasaki where Miss Russell has 
been principal eleven years. In this school are over a hundred girls 
who have been converted, not to say anything about those who have 
gone out from the school. Some of these girls are now pupil teach- 
ers. Their clean attire, bright faces, radiant with the joy of peace 
and salvation, their testimonies, prayers and songs make my heart 
leap for joy, and, the leaven here will continue to work till the 



Travels in Japan 67 

whole shall be leavened. In connection with this school are eleven 
Sunday schools among the very poor taught by our own girls, a 
dispensary and hospital for the poor sick, Bible and evangelistic 
works and other forms of benevolence. 

"I have now traveled about 3,000 miles in Japan by steamer, 
railroad and jinriksha, have visited the open ports and some other 
places in the interior. This is indeed a beautiful land abounding in 
charming scenery. Wherever the eye turns you are impressed with 
the thought, 'Every prospect pleases.' But, O, the spiritual destitu- 
tion! O, the multitudes who have never heard the story of Jesus 
and His love ! These make my heart sick all the time and I would 
that I had command of the language that I might utter a few words 
of the gospel message." 





Mrs. Nind and a nelper 
in India 



Mrs. Nind and Japanese 
Interpreter 



CHAPTER XII 

AROUND THE WORLD, CONTINUED — CHINA 

It had been the original intention of Bishop Ninde's party upon 
leaving Japan to go to Corea and North China before visiting 
Shanghai but as the Chinese- Japanese war was raging in those 
places it was deemed best for the ladies and children of the party 
to give up this part of their tour and Bishop Ninde went on alone. 
We therefore give you mother's own account of the closing days 
in Nagasaki and the arrival in China, gleaning from her letters 
those things of interest which she saw and which most impressed 
her as she tarried for thirteen months in China. 

October 8, 1894, she writes from Shanghai, China: "Another 
stage in the journey has been reached and another Ebenezer raised, 
but let me return to October the 3d. We received a telegram from 
Yokohama that the steamship Empress of India had arrived and 
that the missionaries from the United States for Foochow and 
various stations in Japan would be at Nagasaki on Friday morn- 
ing, so that made it clear that I should lay my plans to depart with 
them. We had another meeting with the dear girls and another 
tea with the teachers and some of our Christian women. Thursday 
was consumed in packing and returning calls, meetings and pri- 
vate conversations with enquirers. Friday morning the mission- 
aries from the ship, having been invited to our Nagasaki home, took 
breakfast and dinner with us and early in the beautiful afternoon 
we started for the steamer. The sea was calm and the vessel splen- 
did, with good service and nice officers ; but the best of all was the 
good company of missionaries from the different churches. 

"The torpedoes in all the harbors delayed us at every port and 
this fact accounts for our arriving here Sunday, the 7th, instead of 
Saturday. We had to leave the Empress and take a launch 12 miles 
below Shanghai, but the proprietor of the Missionary Home, here in 



70 Mary Clarke Nind 

Shanghai, came out on the launch, took charge of us all and our 
luggage and conducted us safely to the Missionary Home. 

"Shanghai, in the Foreign Concessions, looks very much like a 
home city with the exception of its narrow streets, but there are no 
pretty walks about it. The park is the only place that is attractive 
and that is near the harbor. 

'The Chinese are more noisy and not as clean as the Japanese 
and I much missed the politeness which characterizes the latter. 

"Today, I have responded to an invitation given me by the la- 
dies of the Woman's Missionary Union, the first woman's foreign 
missionary society organized, to visit their home, school and hospi- 
tal at the West Gate. The ride is mostly through an uninteresting 
part of the city, after you leave the Bund, which is the principal 
street, facing the river, and is a fine, broad one. After leaving the 
Bund, however, the streets become so narrow that it seems as if 
you would be run into by some other jinriksha or the Chinese 
wheelbarrows, or the coolies who carry everything on their shoul- 
ders, hung on a bamboo pole. The people are so noisy and so dirty 
and so many that it is a relief to get into comparatively quiet streets, 
which are rare things here. But, I reached in safety the home of 
the missionaries at West Gate. This is the finest missionary home 
I have seen. It has no school attached. It was built at a cost of 
$10,000 by a wealthy German; it is of solid brick, polished floors, 
spacious rooms and halls and beautiful grounds laid out with taste. 
The man who built it made his fortune and desired to return to the 
homeland to educate his children, so sold it at a sacrifice. A lady 
in New Jersey bought it and made the missionary society a present 
of it. We had an excellent dinner and with it all much profitable 
conversation. 

"Soon after dinner, we went over to the hospital and learned 
more of medical work than I ever thought I could in two hours. 
The reception room and the vestibule were crowded with patients 
of all ages and classes, for the head doctor is very popular. She is 
a Methodist and like her colleagues is a graduate of the Woman's 
College of Philadelphia. Many of the patients pay for their treat- 



Around the World, Continued — China 71 

ments and medicines so that last year the doctor had a balance of 
over $1,000. A Chinaman sat near the door from whom the pa- 
tients received their number and a blank prescription paper. Only 
six are admitted to the doctor's receiving room at once. She is 
aided by two Chinese converted helpers, one of whom comes from 
a high-class Buddhist family and is fairly educated. The only draw- 
back to her usefulness is her bound feet. 

"Skin diseases, most repulsive in appearance, were the pre- 
vailing disorders at the dispensary. The doctor made each diag- 
nosis very rapidly and sent her patients to the prescription room. 
The doctors make their own pills and powders. 

"We went again to the reception room to see the Bible woman 
who preaches the gospel to the waiting patients, the number often 
reaching 200 a day. She is a very earnest, efficient woman, and has 
been working here for many years. 

"Last year there were ten thousand patients in this hospital and 
dispensary. From the dispensary we went to the hospital, passing 
through the wards and seeing various cases, with all kinds of dis- 
eases, from a babe two weeks old, to the aged woman. I had a 
heart-sickening sight of a woman's bound foot, for the nurse un- 
bound it for me. I cannot think of it since without a shudder of 
horror. 

"From the hospital we went to the boarding school and saw the 
girls at their weaving and spinning. Really, I feel I had a day of 
valuable knowledge and then to close with, we went into an opium 
den, which was four stories high, where we saw the poor victims 
in every state. Hundreds were there and among them many 
women of the baser sort. It was a dreadful sight. From there we 
looked into other dens where the devil holds full sway. We had a 
sight into a Chinese theater and at one hall saw the people wor- 
shiping the ancestral tablet. The streets are narrow and crowded 
and every one is so noisy that it is a treat to get into one's own 
room and be away from the sight of the multitude, though you can- 
not get away from the sounds. As I walked down the streets last 
night, I could not help imagining what an awful thing a Chinese 



72 Mary Clarke Nind 

mob must be. The Lord deliver us from the awful experience 
through which so many missionaries have passed, some of them to 
glory. 

"I have visited the old Chinese West Gate where the people have 
their shops and dwelling houses. The streets are narrow and dirty, 
with filthy smells and scenes. The canal which flows through this 
part of the city is a muddy stream and yet the people wash their 
rice in it. Here are beggars of every description, in rags, with skin 
diseases, filthy, asking alms of all that pass, lifting up their voices 
and crying aloud. If the people who say, 'We have heathen at 
home,' could see the sights I have seen, they would never say it 
again. 

"We went into the temple where the poor deluded worshipers 
were burning incense sticks to their gods and worshiping. Candles 
were burning while others, regardless of what was going on, were 
walking about and talking or laughing. We met several small 
footed women, leaning as they walked on the shoulder of another, 
or being led by the hand. Did we not know that the promises are 
sure as the throne of God, we could not believe these multitudes so 
low and degraded could ever be reached, but 'The work of our God 
abideth forever/ and He has declared 'All flesh shall see the salva- 
tion.' 

"October 15. Yesterday we saw a Chinese funeral of the poorer 
class, passing our house. It was preceded by music of cymbals and 
flutes and then the chair bearing the ancestral tablet. The priest 
walked ahead of the huge coffin which was covered with scarlet 
cloth, gaily embroidered and was borne on the shoulders of four 
men with bamboo poles. The mourners, who did not seem much 
like mourners, were all dressed in white and rode in jinrikshas. 

"October 19. We left Shanghai by steamer to reach Ching- 
kiang, our first station on the Yangtse River. We had a good 
steamer, an English captain, good Chinese service and excellent 
table and good beds. We had a smooth passage but we arrived at 
an unseasonable hour. It was past midnight but a good brother of 
the General Missionary Society was down to meet us with his 



Around the World, Continued — China 73 

coolies and sedan chairs, and we were safely landed in our Ching- 
kiang home and soon asleep. In the morning we met at the table, 
Dr. Hoag and Miss Robinson, two of our earnest, devoted mis- 
sionaries, who have been long upon the field, and Miss White, the 
teacher of music. 

"The Chingkiang school and hospital command a beautiful view 
from the hill on which they stand, of the city, the river, the valley 
and the other mission stations, the fort and the temples. We say 
of it, truly, 'Beautiful for situation,' the joy of the missionaries. 
If it were not surrounded by Chinese graves it would be all we 
could desire, but these graves so near us, everywhere, are inevitable 
in China. Our schools and hospital buildings, models of cleanli- 
ness and good ventilation, though extremely plain and simple, do 
credit to the wisdom and economy of these dear women who have 
been here from the incipiency. In the evening, we heard the girls 
sing, and such excellent singing I have not heard since I left the 
United States, from any of our school girls. Anthems and hymns 
were beautifully sung and in such excellent time. Miss White is an 
excellent teacher whom all the girls love. Katy Hoag, a Chinese 
girl whom Dr. Hoag has adopted, plays and sings well. She is a 
beautiful character and a great help to her foster mother. 
There is another girl here who was redeemed from an awful 
life to which she had been assigned but was determined to keep 
herself pure. She has a voice that thrilled me soul and body, 
and she is a great joy to these dear women who paid $250 to redeem 
her. She is an earnest Christian and will make her mark in this 
land. There are eight infants and a number of little ones here who 
are very sweet children and run to be kissed every morning when 
we go into prayers. One is a baby who was brought here a mere 
skeleton, nearly starved, but is now fat and sits through all the 
worship as good as she can be. 

"I addressed the Epworth League, Katy interpreting for me, and 
then these dear children, great and small, spoke and prayed in rapid 
succession — a model for many of our homes in the homeland. I am 



74 Mary Clarke Nind 

delighted with this school, hospital and home and I am glad that 
Michigan has so large a share in it. 

"October 26. We left Chingkiang after a most enjoyable day. 
I am now writing from Kiukiang. The scenery up the river is 
much more hilly and therefore prettier. We made several stops on 
the way, giving us an opportunity to see the walled cities, pagodas, 
temples and people. One temple is built up on a lofty mountain 
where some devotees stay for seven weary years away from all the 
world. Another place of interest was the Orphan Rock, 200 feet 
high, in the midst of the river. 

"When we arrived at Kiukiang, we took sedan chairs to our 
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society home. During the Confer- 
ence, which was held here, two enthusiastic meetings against foot- 
binding were held. This is the region where foot-binding is most 
prevalent. Every woman, rich and poor, binds her feet, except 
those whom Miss Howe, our pioneer missionary, has persuaded not 
to do so and even many Christians continue this sin. 

"November 3. We left Kiukiang on Thursday night and soon 
were asleep, steaming up the mighty Yangtse. Friday morning was 
lovely, and we were on deck nearly all day, noting the points of in- 
terest among which were the many villages and cities, the latter 
with their massive w r alls and towers. The fishermen with their nets 
and boats were too many to enumerate. The largest city before 
reaching Hankow was one whose walls were more massive and 
perfect than any city I have yet seen. Along the river bank, men 
were pulling boats, sometimes only three men to a boat, sometimes as 
many as eighteen, according to the size of the boat, doing the work 
that horses and mules do along our home canals. 

"Temples and pagodas abound all along the river, some of them 
are very finely built, exhibiting splendid architectural skill. 

"Twice on the way, we saw an unusual feat performed. A junk 
load of Chinese were bearing down upon our steamer and while she 
was running at full speed numbers of the men from the junk made 
the transit to our steamer. The captain says that he does not charge 
them anything for their passage, for he does not stop for them to 



Around the World, Continued — China 75 

get on, and if they should fall overboard he would not stop to rescue 
them. The junk men must do that. Another sight was a raft of 
lumber going down the river on which were constructed four 
houses. In these houses the raft-men live till they reach their 
destination, then take down the houses and sell the lumber, which 
is all the better seasoned. 

"Later in the afternoon we reached Hankow, a city of one 
million inhabitants. The English Wesleyan missionaries, whose 
guests we were to be, sent sedan chairs for us and we were soon on 
the shoulders of the men, being borne aloft, and for three miles 
through the most narrow and crowded streets I have ever yet seen 
we traveled. In that distance we met and passed thousands of 
people, the surging multitudes jostling and crowding all the way. 
It was a great relief when we entered the mission compound away 
from the throng in which I had only discovered twenty women. 
We were cordially welcomed by the missionaries and as soon as 
we had a little refreshment we visited the two hospitals, one for 
men, the other for women, with dispensaries and all the needed 
rooms and apparatus for complete work. We also visited the 
boys' school and the school for the blind, where these unfortunate 
ones are taught to read and write and to work in straw and 
bamboo, out of which they make many beautiful articles. We 
visited the street chapel and the hospital chapel. These Wesleyans 
have extensive buildings and are doing a good work here. 

"Early the next morning after prayers with the servants and 
children we took sedan chairs through the crowded streets and 
then alighting climbed up a hill 300 feet, where we had a delightful 
view of the three cities, Hankow, Wuchang and Hanyang; the two 
rivers, the Yangtse and the Han; the iron and smelting works, the 
gun works, the Grand Canal, and all the shipping in the harbor. 
From this 'Tortoise Shell' mountain we viewed the 'landscape 
o'er.' Then descending we took a sampan to our steamer, having 
had with these cordial missionaries royal hospitality and blessed 
fellowship. 

"November 5. Kiukiang, to which place we have returned for 



76 Mary Clarke Nind 

a little season. The trip down the river to this place was delightful. 
Sunday we attended the English Church service and communion 
in the morning. In the afternoon the Master, whose I am and 
whom I serve, gave me the privilege of preaching in my own 
tongue to an English speaking people and I greatly enjoyed it. 

"Wuhu, November 9. We arrived here yesterday^. The mission 
property is finely located and commands a fine view of the sur- 
rounding country, as well as of the Yangtse. Yesterday one of 
the viceroys went down the river to Nanking, accompanied by 
gun boats, and the salutes were many and heavy. All the cities 
and the ports are handsomely decorated in honor of the Empress 
Dowager's birthday, and when these celebrations are over the nation 
will go into mourning for one hundred days for the dead Empress. 
During these hundred days no man is allowed to shave his head. 

"Shanghai, November 16. From Wuhu to Nanking, the an- 
cient capital, was but a short trip. Our property at Nanking is very 
fine. Our missionaries have built well. The home, the girls' school 
and the woman's school are all models ; especially is the home a model 
of neatness and cheerfulness. We spent five days at Nanking. I 
preached on Sunday to the missionaries and community people, 
attended class meeting and talked to the women and to the girls. 
During the other days we attended a missionary association of all 
the missionaries, held a temperance meeting, visited the missionaries 
in the Quaker settlement, and went to the Ming Tombs. These 
tombs are 500 years old and are five miles from the city of Nan- 
king. We saw the ancient walls and statuary, massive masonry 
and aqueducts, and we passed through the old Tartar city and 
marked its ruins. These Tartars are said to be fed from the 
Emperor's table and are large, fine looking people. There are no 
bound-footed women among the Tartars. 

"The ancient capital everywhere shows indications of the de- 
struction by the Taiping Rebellion in the fallen gates and crumbled 
walls. Even the Ming Tombs, though so solidly and substantially 
built, show signs of decay and lack of care, though a solid stone 
walk with stone sentinels in the form of horses, tigers, lions, dogs 



Around the World, Continued — China 77 

and elephants leads the way to the entrance. The first gate con- 
sists of a granite slab, resting on the back of an immense turtle and 
slab, both carved out of a single stone. We were told that it had 
been there 500 years, so according to Chinese ideas it was quite new, 
for with them nothing is old unless it be of thousands of years 
standing. In this tomb the ancient emperors are buried and twice a 
year the officials are required to come and show respect to royalty 
long since dead. 

"Here also we visited the temple of Confucius, as bare, dirty 
and neglected as any other. Besides the memorial tablets of Con- 
fucius it contained some in memory of his father and mother. We 
visited the chamber of horrors and of rewards, one showing the 
pleasures of heaven, the other the tortures of hades. The gross, 
sensual characters of the images of the one set and the cruel 
ingenuity displayed in the other were a fresh demonstration to us 
of the ignorance and the horrors of heathenism." 



CHAPTER XIII 

WITH HER DAUGHTER IN FOOCHOW 

"Foochow, November 28. At last we are settled in this 
delightful place. We left Shanghai in a small coasting steamer. 
The baggage room and steerage were full of Chinese engaged in 
smoking opium. With their huge pipes, about the size and shape 
of a flute, in their mouths, they were reclining in such a way as to 
hold a tiny ball of opium at the point of a long needle over the 
lighted lamp, which is a necessary adjunct of each man's opium 
outfit. The ship was filled with this and many other disagreeable 
odors. It rocked and pitched against a heavy swell, until we gave 
a sigh of relief when on the second day the anchorage was reached 
and we knew our voyage was nearly ended." 

This latter remark was justified, for here in Foochow her 
daughter with her husband and children was then living and she 
had planned a long stay with them. 

"But now of the conferences. It has been good to be here in 
both. To meet so many native Christians, men and women. To 
hear their testimonies and prayers. To see so many ordained elders 
has certainly been very inspiring. Then we have had such a 
spiritual time. The Holy Spirit has been poured out. We have 
had evening meetings. The Lord has helped the Bishop and me in 
preaching. Souls have been sanctified and endued and we have 
had a time of great refreshing. Last night was one of the most 
memorable. Our church here is too small. Every Sunday the 
students and faculty fill it so that there is not room for outsiders, 
and people who would come cannot. We have been packed during 
Conference. I received an inspiration on a new church and told 
the brethren I wanted to take up a subscription here, see how 
much we could raise, and then let the Bishop go home and do 
what he could to secure the balance. So yesterday, though I 



80 Mary Clarke Nind 

addressed the Anglo-Chinese students in the morning and the 
Women's Conference in the afternoon, in the evening I did what 
I could to build a church for God in Foochow. It was a memorable 
time. I never saw it excelled. The Lord of hosts was with us 
graciously and the people gave their silver and their gold. The 
women brought their earrings, bracelets, head ornaments, neck 
chains and rings, and we raised about $1,500. Oh, it was a 
hilarious time ! You know the new version reads, 'God loves a 
hilarious giver.' He must have been in love with many people last 
night." 

Writing a few days later, mother says : "Last night we went 
to a Chinese feast at Mrs. Ahok's. Her husband gave $10,000 to 
found our Anglo-Chinese College before he was converted. His 
wife made a visit to England and did good work in missionary 
meetings, but while she was there he died. The house is very 
elegant; one part built and furnished in foreign style, the rest in 
native. The family consists of Mrs. Ahok, two sons and a bride of 
the eldest son. He is only 17 years old, she 18. We were escorted 
into the reception room and tea was brought in elegant covered 
cups. After a little chat the eldest son led me by the hand through 
the corridors into the elegant dining room, lighted with the most 
elegant chandelier I have ever seen. The lamps were of oil, with 
small floating wicks. There were candlesticks, very elaborate 
Chinese lanterns, and lamps of various kinds, which made the room 
brilliant. The woodwork was handsomely carved and the scroll 
work was beautiful. The table, which was a round one, was 
tastefully decorated with flowers and vines and all the rooms had 
flowers to add to their beauty. According to Chinese custom, the 
daughter-in-law was not present at the table, so we were invited 
to the bridal chamber, which was also brightly lighted. The bed 
and bedding were elegant. The bed contains gold and lacquered 
drawers, in which to put away many little things. There were 
handsome silk curtains all around the bed. The larger drawers 
outside were beautifully painted with birds and flowers and were 
fastened with brass locks peculiar to the Chinese. 



With Her Daughter in Foochow 81 

"The bride is not a Christian, although the bridegroom is. So 
one side of the room bears the marks of heathenism, the other of 
Christianity. They were probably betrothed before the parents of 
the bridegroom became Christians. She is a small-footed woman 
and was most elegantly dressed in a silk and satm embroidered 
robe. She was painted and powdered and wore a great deal of 
jewelry, and yet was indeed a very pretty woman. 

"But what of the feast? Well, we had more than twenty 
courses, and I had my first experience with chop sticks and did 
fairly well, but prefer a knife and fork. We closed our visit with 
prayer." 

Later on mother writes: "We had a glorious day Sunday. 
Bishop preached to the English speaking people and I to the 
Chinese. Ruth Sites was my interpreter. The Holy Spirit spoke 
through her wondrously. We had a tent meeting last night and I 
preached, and Ruth was all aglow. The Holy Spirit was with us; 
scores came to the altar for the filling and were blessed. Oh, it 
was a precious sight! Women, men, children, down on the straw, 
several praying at once." 

At the close of the Conference sessions mother went with 
the Bishop and a party of missionaries to visit the work in 
Kucheng and describes her trip as follows : "Kucheng is about 
a hundred miles from Foochow ; sixty-five miles on the Min River 
and thirty-five miles have to be made in sedan chairs over the 
mountains. We are now on the way in house-boats. There is a 
captain and six sailors. As there is no wind the sails do not help 
us much, so the men row when the water is deep enough and push 
"mth long bamboo poles when shallow and we are near sandbars, 
which resemble those on the Mississippi. There are three decks, 
the upper where the sailors operate and from which the masts 
and sails are erected. Our deck is four steps below and leads into 
our dining and sitting room combined. This room is 10 by 12 feet, 
with five windows, with shades outside and creton curtains inside. 
The woodwork is painted white. The room contains a lounge, a 
dining table, little shelves, pictures and two stuffed birds. Creton 



82 Mary Clarke Nind 

curtains divide this room from the passageway, in which is a cup- 
board and a few shelves above it. A bed is on the opposite side. 
This room is only 7 by 8 feet. The store room and pantry run the 
whole length of the cabin and have all necessary shelves for dishes. 
The cooking is done outside on the upper deck at the back of the 
boat, an awning of bamboo over it, and so we are saved from all 
odors. The lower deck is the hold for cargo and the sleeping room 
of the sailors and servants. We have a good cook and have brought 
with us all our provisions and bedding for the journey. It is a vast 
amount of work to get ready for a week's trip in the country. The 
scenery along this river is very pretty. The mountains are high 
and ever varying in their forms of beauty." 

"Foochow, December 13. We have been traveling seven days 
to make a visit of two days at Kucheng. We were three days in 
house-boats, two nights in Chinese inns, four days in sedan chairs, 
but we have seen what Bishop Ninde calls the 'Switzerland of China.' 
We have been over the mountains and through the valley of the 
Min and it is certainly the most beautiful scenery I have ever 
beheld anywhere and the most perilous journey I have ever made. 
We went up such fearful heights on such narrow paths that one 
misstep of the bearers must have hurled us down to our death. 
In some places the precipices were so fearful that I shut my eyes 
and prayed. You know I am not nervous — no nervous person 
should make such a trip. We had a wonderful reception and 
learned the warmth of affection and cordiality of these Chinese 
people. We had to stay one night at a Chinese inn. It was dark 
and dirty. There were fleas, mosquitoes and hard beds. We had 
our own bedding and food and a good cook, but while we ate in 
the open room the natives surrounded us. They were unclean and 
unkempt. Smoking and talking, they watched us every moment. 
Babies were crying, dogs barking and eating the crumbs which fell 
from the table, but before they left the gospel had been preached 
to them, and then some of the native Christians, having walked 
fifteen miles, came to meet us. Their faces and general appearance 
were such a contrast to the heathen that I said, 'This pays for all 



With Her Daughter in Foochow 83 

our inconveniences/ They walked back that night every step of 
the way. We rose at 5 the next morning to pursue our way. 
Nearing the city at 1 p. m., we met the pastor, arrayed in an official 
suit, consisting of a mandarin's cap and satin brocaded dress, which 
he had hired for the occasion. He presented his card with customary 
salutations. A little farther on others came and fire-crackers saluted 
us; then still on a little farther and all the teachers, preachers and 
members of the Boys' School stood on either side of the road, each 
with his red Chinese card, and we alighted to salute them and then 
returned to our chairs, and they followed as our bodyguard and 
attendants. Reaching the home of Brother Wilcox we made ready 
for the Chinese feast and with chop sticks in hand proceeded to 
attack the many courses. After a busy Sunday, on Monday we 
visited the Hospital, Girls' School and Women's School, had our 
dinner, and then a farewell reception at the church. This consisted 
of speeches and responses and some very handsome presents, and 
then they all followed us out of the city and the same order was 
observed as when we came, except the cards. We had a very 
delightful trip back, with perfect weather, and though we had to 
stay over night, it was at a Street Chapel, where our accommoda- 
tions were better than at the inn, but we had an audience while w£ 
ate our supper. As our breakfast was early, the multitude had not 
gathered and we did not have more than ten street spectators." 

After a visit to a Sunday school for the heathen children at the 
oldest Methodist Church in Asia, situated on a busy, crowded street, 
a mile and half from the Methodist Mission Compound, mother 
writes : "Since my last, I visited a heathen Sunday school and am 
full of praise for what my eyes have seen and my ears heard. This 
was opened by dear son not two years ago with a few ragged, 
dirty street Arabs. Now 300 children gather every Sunday. Then 
the cards have found their way, with the passage of Scripture at the 
back, into the homes represented. Some of the parents have been 
brought into the school and converted, and the superintendent, one 
of the boys from our Anglo-Chinese College, is welcomed every- 
where. In connection with this school and others we have a col- 



84 Mary Clarke Nind 

porteur who sells Bibles and books, and another one who goes over 
the district has a magic lantern. He needs a preacher to accom- 
pany him to preach the gospel. Oh, the need of workers every- 
where to labor among these hungry people! I had the joy of 
preaching in this neighborhood last Sabbath morning and then 
gathering with the native Christians at the Communion table. I 
was very much interested at some of the replies these children, who 
have only been under instruction one year, gave to the questions 
which were asked them. 'To whom should we pray?' 'To God.' 
'How should we pray?' 'Stand up with our eyes shut.' 'Who is 
God?' 'A Spirit.' 'If a Spirit, who is the author?' 'God Himself.' 
'When Jesus Christ came into the world who was His father?' 
'God.' 'Was He God or man?' 'Both.' Those who made the best 
replies received the best card." 



CHAPTER XIV 

CHINESE CEREMONIES 

The Christmas entertainments are described as follows: "Last 
evening the Sunday school here had their Christmas exercises. 
Oh, how I wish I could describe the decorations. Never have I 
seen them equalled. There were flags, banners and transparencies 
with various and beautiful pictures. Lanterns of various devices 
illuminated the church brilliantly. There was singing by the Col- 
lege boys, the missionaries' children, and recitations by the orphans. 
Girls from the Boarding School also gave recitations and essays. 
The church was crowded; hundreds could not get in." 

Of the commencement exercises she writes : "Yesterday was a 
busy day, attending Commencement exercises. In the morning we 
were at the Anglo-Chinese College. The debates would have done 
honor to any home college. The leading debate was on the ques- 
tion, 'Should China now make conditions of peace?' In the after- 
noon were the closing exercises of the Girls' School, a visit to the 
Orphanage and a Chinese feast in the evening, to which I was 
invited by the College boys. Oh, these Chinese feasts! They are 
a trial to me, but I feel I must go. They usually have about 
eighteen courses, most of which are strange, I assure you. Soups 
with all sorts of vegetables in them, fish in various styles, oysters, 
mushrooms, little fish in shells, pork, dumplings cooked in fat, rice, 
minced-meat, watermelon seeds, watermelon, preserves put up in 
small cakes, oranges, bananas and many, many more things I 
cannot tell. Now, the worst of all this is that there are no changes 
of plates, no napkins, nothing but chop-sticks and a small spoon 
like a ladle, and the honored guests have everything served to them 
with the same chop-sticks and spoons that have gone into other 
mouths, and there is no other way than to eat such things and be 
served with such things as they set before you, asking no questions 



86 Mary Clarke Nind 

and showing no disgust for propriety's sake. I never understood 
before I went to a Chinese feast what is meant by 'He that dippeth 
with me in the dish.' The dish is placed in the center and all dip 
for their portions. I feel like Peter, 'Nothing uncommon or unclean 
shall enter into my mouth/ and yet I want to be like Paul, 'All 
things to all men that by all means I may save some.' 

"January 18. Yesterday we attended the commencement exer- 
cises in connection with the American Board Boys' School. This 
school is situated three miles from our Compound, and we have to 
go through the narrow, crowded, filthy streets, more uncomfortable 
at this season of the year, as it is the rainy season and near China 
New Year, when everyone is preparing to celebrate. We mission- 
aries all dined together, the Chinese together, and after dinner the 
collegiate missionaries sang college songs. Then we sang together, 
'Hasten, Lord, the Glorious Day.' Brother Hartwell offered prayer, 
and we returned to attend a wedding feast of our Chinese pastor's 
daughter. This is the feast given in honor of the bride. Only 
women were allowed to see her. The men feast together, but do not 
see the bride. There was music, fire-crackers, banners and various 
decorations. Two women, whose business it is to superintend the 
affair, and the wedding chair, which is very elaborate, were in 
waiting. The bride is only 17; the bridegroom is a very nice 
Christian young man, the son of one of our preachers. We only 
regret that the girl was taken from school so soon, but the father 
of the bridegroom is getting into years and desires his eldest son 
should marry, with a fond hope that he may have a son to bear his 
name. Thus our plans for our girls are often broken up and they 
leave us before their educational course is completed. 

"January 19. It is cold here today and even with a grate fire 
it is a little difficult to keep warm, but then the Chinese have no 
fires in their houses. They pile on the clothes, but still look cold, 
and the poor, half-clad, half-fed are wretched indeed. 

"Yesterday was a busy day. At 10:30 we went to the wedding 
of the bride whose feast we attended the night previous. The home 
is next to ours, just outside our wall, so we went down to see her 




MEMORIAL WINDOW IN THE NIND-LACY MEMORIAL 
CHAPEL, FOO CHOW, CHINA 

This chapel was huilt with funds raised hy Mr. and Mrs. Lacy. It is a 
memorial to Mother Nind and Mother Lacy 



Chinese Ceremonies 87 

start. Fire-crackers announced the departure. Some of the rela- 
tives, arrayed in mandarin attire, black caps with red silk adorn- 
ments and good clothes, which had been hired, went in advance of 
the chair. Bearers, carrying lanterns, torches and the large silk 
wedding umbrella also preceded the chair. They always have 
torches and lanterns, although it is in the daytime. The bride 
entered her chair, her face having been covered before the chair was 
brought outside, and then the curtains were all drawn down tightly. 
No one could get a glimpse at the bride. The chair was very 
elaborate. It was covered with red cloth and brass ornaments. 
There were two glass windows, but these were covered with various 
figures of men, women and children in gay attire, in silk and gold 
embroidery, men carrying lanterns, musical instruments and fans. 
Then at each corner of the chair were embroidered pendants about 
three-fourths of a yard long. In this closed sedan chair the bride 
sat for about an hour and a half, for the ride through the streets 
was long. On arriving at the house she was brought into the room 
where she was to be married and according to custom had to sit 
there some time before the curtain could be lifted. At last, closely 
covered and attended by the two hired women, she came out and 
went to her bedroom, meeting there, probably for the first time, 
the bridegroom. Soon the bridegroom entered the hall and stood, 
head down, as if he was going to be executed for some offense. 
Then came the bride in her embroidered dress and skirt, her face 
still covered with a red embroidered cloth. The ceremony opened 
with the hymn, 'Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.' Prayer was 
offered, then a short wedding ceremony was read. No promises 
were made, no ring given, no clasping of hands, no kiss. All was 
quiet and solemn. We sang, 'There is a Fountain Filled with 
Blood,' the benediction was pronounced, and the bride went to her 
room to have her hair arranged as a married woman and to put 
on her own clothes. Now, this marriage is considered one of the 
happiest; both are Christians out of marked Christian families, and 
yet this husband did not want to marry this girl; but this was his 
father's choice and he as the eldest son must submit. Also, neither 



88 Mary Clarke Nind 

of them wanted to marry now. She wanted to stay in the Girls' 
School and graduate in two years. She would have finished her 
course, and he was willing and anxious that she should do so, but 
the father of the young husband was old and wanted to see the 
posterity of his eldest son before he went hence. Oh, these mar- 
riage relations at best have some sad things connected with them, 
and in heathen families they are bad and dreadful. The music at 
weddings is poor. Bones and cymbals are by no means musical to 
me, and the ever present fire-crackers are deafening. The father of 
the bridegroom has just built him a very comfortable house. He 
has a nice wife, who will welcome this daughter-in-law. The house 
is furnished partly in foreign style. The room in which the cere- 
mony was performed was decorated in very pretty scrolls, and a 
banner adorned the walls whose characters were in gold and velvet. 
Large candles and flowers were on the table, and nearby was a 
banner on which was inscribed, 'Long Life and Happiness.' A 
promiscuous assembly of curious people, many of them unclean, 
joined in during the ceremony. These were dismissed at the close 
and we who were special guests, invited by card, were regaled with 
cakes, sweetmeats and fragrant tea without sugar or milk. This 
is the way the Chinese drink tea. I rarely touch it, but on such an 
occasion 'To the weak I become weak that I may gain the weak.' 
The attendance at this wedding brought to my mind my own happy 
wedding day — such a contrast in so many respects — and I thank 
God I was born in a Christian land, where marriage is the union 
of loving hearts and where happy days of acquaintance and court- 
ship help us to know and love each other. This day will surely 
dawn on China. It has come in a measure; it will increase as the 
gospel wins its way. In the afternoon we went to the graduating 
exercises of our hospital. There were three essays, one by each of 
the graduates. Dr. Lyon in a very neat speech presented each with 
a copy of the Chinese Bible. Dr. Carleton presented the diploma 
with some very well chosen words and excellent advice, and I 
delivered the graduating address. Light refreshments followed 
and a call at the Orphanage and at the Girls' School concluded the 
outings of the day. 



CHAPTER XV 

LABORS IN CHINA 

"January 30. Since I mailed my last I have been away from 
Foochow, making another trip into the interior for sixty miles. 
Part of the way we went by house-boat, the other part by sedan 
chair. The scenery on this trip has been very fine, though we have 
not had quite so beautiful river scenery as we had on our trip to 
Kucheng, but the mountains are not a whit behind. This trip has 
been in the Ming-chiang district, of which Dr. Sites is presiding 
elder, and his daughter a pioneer worker among the women. Dr. 
Sites has labored in the Foochow Conference thirty-two years and 
has done a wonderful work among this people. It is marvelous in 
His eyes and it has been marvelous in mine. My heart has been 
full of praises all the time while in this district. We reached our 
first stopping place, which was Ming-chiang City, Wednesday morn- 
ing and, taking a small boat, went up about two miles till we 
reached the heart of it. Then winding our way down the narrow 
streets, Dr. Sites went into a shop, through it into the kitchen, and 
it was soon full of curious spectators to look at us. He preached 
the Word unto them, distributed the printed page, and went over to 
another house by the invitation of a reformed opium victim, who 
had once been wealthy but is now poor as a result of his opium and 
gambling. He is not yet converted, but we are praying he may be. 
He gave me an invitation to visit the women's apartments, which are 
about the same as a zenana in India, dark and screened. The 
women of the Compound gathered in ; some of them heard for the 
first time the message of salvation. 

"One woman had read Chinese books for ten years and if 
converted would make an efficient teacher among the women. We 
walked on to the residence of the chief magistrate. By :he side of 
his house was the jail. One man had been incarcerated five years. 



90 Mary Clarke Nind 

To him Dr. Sites preached and left him a copy of the Scriptures. 
"We got back to our house-boat early in the afternoon, packed 
up our belongings and started for the next township to meet the 
Christians there, speak to them a few words of cheer and tarry for 
the night in the parsonage. Let me describe this parsonage. Ours 
was the best room in the house. It had two little windows — that is 
an improvement on most rooms, as there is generally only one. It 
had a poor board floor, a table on which were placed flowers and 
fruit to welcome us, and a bedstead with a board bottom and a 
straw mattress. At least it is called a mattress. It is straw tied 
together, without any cover, laid over the boards. Early in the 
morning we were up and, as Paul said, 'Took our carriages/ and 
having met the Christians once more, proceeded on our way to 
Lek-du, twelve miles distant. The scenery up the mountain steep 
was fine, but the rain in the afternoon made the view less lovely; 
but, in spite of the rain, I walked about two miles up the rugged 
steeps to rest my coolies and to secure some needed exercise. 
Despite the rain the dear native Christians, who had assembled 
from all over the district for the Week of Prayer, came out three 
miles to greet us and when we reached the outer gate of the city 
wall we heard the usual signal of welcome — cannon firecrackers. 
Over fifty of our native brethren, dressed in hired official robes, 
came out to do us honor. Standing on either side of the gateway 
was a banner with gold characters, bearing my name in Chinese, 
a beautiful silk umbrella and a band of music. Alighting from our 
sedan chairs, we passed, bowing to each brother, who gave us the 
usual salutation. An official chair, which is a closed chair, gaily 
painted and borne by four coolies, was sent for me. This is a mark 
of honor given to guests, and as I am the first representative of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church in America, outside of the mission- 
aries, who has visited this region, they conferred on me the special 
tokens of regard, and at I p. m. we reached the church, which was 
soon filled. Dr. Sites introduced me and I spoke a few words to 
the kind people, with promise of more when I was rested. In the 
evening I preached to a congregation of several hundred people. 



Labors in China 91 

This place has been very hostile to Christianity. The missionaries 
and the native Christians have endured much, but after a little 
while all was quiet and they heard the Word with marked attention. 
After I had spoken, the native pastor exhorted. He is a man who 
has only been converted a few years and is like Apollos, 'mighty in 
the Scriptures.' 

"Friday we met a company of women in the Ancestral Hall of 
this building and talked to them on their duties as mothers. Many 
of them heard for the first time of the love of Christ. Friday night 
I preached again to about 500 men and women, most of whom 
were heathen. I saw their upturned faces in my dreams that night. 
They were photographed on my heart. Weary, but supremely 
happy at my glorious opportunities, I went to rest, praising the 
Lord that He had let me come to China to proclaim His gospel. 

"Saturday we met another company of Christian women and 
talked to them for half an hour. Then the preachers, teachers and 
laymen came in a body to express their thanks for my services. 
Among them were redeemed gamblers, opium victims, persecutors, 
Sauls of Tarsus, blasphemers; and all these only a little while ago 
were idolators. They made short addresses to me. Oh, how my 
heart was moved! I felt I stood in the presence of the king and 
his royal redeemed sons. After they left we walked a mile to the 
home of one of these redeemed men, who had smoked away $20,000 
in opium and by his cruelty broken the hearts of two wives, and 
the third he had not noticed or spoken to for seven years. 

"In the woman's apartments I met a companay of women all 
but two or three of whom were heathen. I spoke to them of Jesus 
for a while and then about fifty men of the Compound sent an 
invitation to me to address them. Many of these men were proud, 
haughty followers of Confucius, but the Lord helped me to give 
them the plain, simple truth of God, the Father, Son and Holy 
Ghost, and to exalt the Bible. I reminded them that the Emperor 
and Empress were studying the Bibles which Christians had sent 
to them and that this precious book was worthy of the study of the 
best minds. 



92 Mary Clarke Nind 

"From there we went once more to the woman's apartments to 
talk to some more hungry women who had never tasted before the 
Bread of Life. Then home to receive some calls, for missionaries 
and their guests are never alone; someone is always coming to call 
and talk on the doctrines. 

"Sunday it rained heavily, and as the quarterly meeting was 
some distance away and I had five meetings on Saturday, I was so 
glad to rest a while. 

"Monday was a busy day, receiving little tokens of kindness 
and many calls. Then I was invited by the head of the opium cure, 
himself a redeemed victim, to his humble home for a Chinese 
supper. 

"Tuesday Dr. Sites was quite ill with the grippe and I admin- 
istered medicine faithfully. Wednesday he was better, but too ill 
to sit up, so we put him on a cot and sent him down on a small 
boat until we met our house-boat, and though he had a restless 
night and was very weary when we reached Foochow, we were so 
glad to get him home into his own room. 

"March 2. We went with Brother Hartwell and other friends 
to visit some points of interest in the city, among them the exami- 
nation cells, where the students for a degree stay. These cells are 
about six feet high and four feet wide. Here the students eat, 
study and sleep for three days at a time, then rest one day. These 
examinations last nine days in all and the students write their 
essays on the subject given to them. Last year there were 10,000 
of these students, and with officials, guards and hucksters who 
came to sell, there were 15,000, only about 100 of whom secured the 
desired degree. We also visited the room where the 100 went to 
receive their degrees. It was a big barn of a place seated with 
hard benches, and had a little shelf for their papers. Then we 
visited the residence of the literary chancellor, who visits the cities 
in the province where, the students live and selects out of the 
aspirants those he considers the best. From there we went to a 
Confucian temple, where only officials are permitted to worship, 
and where the tablets of Confucius, his twelve disciples and other 



Labors in China 93 

distinguished men are honored. We also visited the treasurer's 
office and the old palace of Foochow, none of which compare with 
our stylish and elegant buildings in America. We dined with our 
American Board friends and then returned in our sedans, so glad to 
be back out of the crowded, dirty, bad smelling streets into the 
clean, quiet, pretty mission Compound, where all is so delightful. 
"Sunday I preached the gospel, attended love feast and com- 
munion. Nearly 150 native Christians bowed with us. It was 
delightful to see them and to unite with them." 



CHAPTER XVI 

STUDIES IN CHINA 

After six months in China, watching and working with our mis- 
sionaries and caring for Dr. Sites in his last days before he crossed 
over the River to receive his well earned reward, "Well done, good 
and faithful servant," mother came to the conclusion that nearly all 
our missionaries were overworked and needed more exercise and 
rest, and she wrote : "I am trying to persuade our missionaries to 
have regular times for exercise and have made out the following 
program which I want them to follow, and I believe it would be good 
for all brain workers to follow at home and abroad : 

Dressing, bathing and morning devotions 1% hours 

Three meals a day iy 2 hours 

Midday nap V 2 hour 

Exercise, riding, walking or gymnastics iy 2 hours 

Sleep from 10 p. m. to 6 a. m 8 hours 

Left for work, study, reading, etc 11 hours 

"We must and therefore ought to take time to preserve the 
Temple of the Holy Ghost and build up our physical, so that we 
can do better work and live longer to bless the world. In spite of 
all we can do we may all die early, but ours is to do our best and 
leave results with God. I believe there would be fewer break-downs 
in the mission field were these rules observed. Far better to keep 
well than to have to take time to be sick and take time to get well." 

A visit to a country village near Foochow is thus described: 
'Thursday we went seven miles into the country to a very hard, 
wicked village. Intemperance, opium and gambling run rampant, 
but the Lord is at work. I talked for an hour to seventy-five girls 
and women and some men beside, and also to the children of the 
day school. We ate our lunch in a room called a chapel, where we 
were surrounded by heathen spectators, who with intense curiosity 



96 Mary Clarke Nind 

watched our every movement. You know we are 'a gazing stock' 
all the time. At the close of the meeting two women gave their 
names to the Bible-woman as wishing to join the church. Here 
I met a woman seventy-six years old who had been a sorcerer such 
as is described in Acts viii, 9, 10 and 11. This woman often went 
through the streets nude, with her hair disheveled, went into 
trances and beguiled the people. She had been doing this ever 
since she was seventeen years old. A short time since she came to 
Jesus and now she sits at his feet ' clothed and in her right mind/ 
and is a happy, earnest Christian, though she is poor, having given 
up the business that brought her so much money and is now too 
old to work, but she says, 'So happy, peace, joy so splendid.' Won- 
derful Savior is our Savior." 

An afternoon outing is thus described: "The 'Alps' are about 
four miles from here. The mountain we ascended is 500 feet high ; 
the view from the summit cannot be adequately described. It must 
be seen to be appreciated. The almost numberless villages, the 
landscape, the rice fields and gardens, the cities in the distance, the 
mountains blue in their beauty, the flowers all about us, the rich 
azalias, roses, violets, all added charm to the scene. The descent 
among boulders and crags was not easy, but I reached the plain in 
safety. Then we went through the woods, which made us all feel 
as though we were in the dear homeland. The shady, leafy, cool, 
fragrant woods. Oh, I do not wonder that poets have written and 
sung of the beautiful sequestered woods. It was a lovely ride 
through them to the Mandarin's grave, an immense structure sur- 
rounded by massive statuary of lions, horses and men." 

In another letter a street preaching scene is described : "Sunday 
we went to one of our street chapels, where we preached the gospel. 
The chapel was crowded and they kept pushing in until the middle 
aisle was packed very nearly to the pulpit. They were disposed to 
be a little noisy, but I am getting used to noisy congregations, 
although I do not enjoy them. People come, dirty and ragged, with 
their pipes in their mouths and with their wares to sell, stay a little 
while and listen and then go out. One feels while preaching the 



Studies in China 97 

importance of being simple and direct and tremendously in earnest, 
for these people are, some of them, hearing the gospel for the first 
time, and perhaps for the last. 

"I noticed in the aisle a little lad with some fish in his basket, 
and I thought of the little lad who was among the crowd that 
followed Jesus. After the service we called on the family of the 
teacher of the day school, who has nine children. He has been 
converted, but his wife is still a heathen. His relatives say that they 
cannot consent to having two in the family Christians, but we are 
hoping and praying that she and the whole family may be saved. 

"In the evening we had our Sunday school Easter service. 
The church was beautifully decorated. You know, here in China 
we revel in flowers. Our yards are bowers of beauty, and we who 
sat on the platform were encircled with flowers." 

After spending days of extreme heat in the month of June, "such 
heat as you cannot imagine, because it is so damp and enervating," 
mother writes : "This is the 22nd of June and I am at Kuliang, 
out of the intense heat. I well nigh succumbed the last day 
or two, for I could not sleep well, day or night, and when I 
came here two days ago I felt pretty slim and good for nothing, 
but really I am glad of the experience, because I know a little of 
what the missionaries suffer in the heat and how absolutely neces- 
sary it is that they have a summer resort or they and their children 
must die. That passage of Scripture came to me so forcefully, 'In 
that He suffered being tempted He is able to succor them that are 
tempted.' And also this text, 'He Himself bore our infirmities and 
carried our sicknesses,' and again, 'He was in all points tempted 
like as we are yet without sin.' Oh, how glad I am that our Savior 
was a man as well as God. 

"Thursday morning at 5 45 we were in our sedan chairs. The 
morning was very hot, but providentially a little cloudy; but how 
the poor coolies did perspire, though they had only their thin 
trousers on. But after we had passed the plain and reached the 
foot of the mountain the poor fellows looked so tired that I would 
have walked had I been able, but we had a three miles' climb up 



98 Mary Clarke Nind 

the mountain and the sun was nearing its altitude. The scenery up 
the mountain is beautiful. In some places grand, reminding me of 
Colorado and Idaho, and in some places of Washington and Oregon. 
Here in our mountain cottage we are 2,500 feet higher than in 
Foochow, and though it is warm here it is not that intense heat 
that keeps you in a bath of perspiration all the time, so that every- 
thing is wet. Here I hope to sleep and perhaps regain a little of my 
lost flesh. As soon as the schools and colleges close the rest of the 
missionaries will be up and I shall be very glad when they are safely 
out of the intense heat in which they are suffering." 

A few days later mother writes: "We are enjoying our walks 
among these beautiful mountains and valleys, sleeping and eating 
well, and so recuperating for the work here and elsewhere. The 
scenery is delightful, magnificent in some places. Oh, this is a 
beautiful world in which we live ! 'Every prospect pleases and 
only man is vile !' Oh, for the day when the Lord's house shall be 
abidingly established upon the tops of the mountains and when these 
valleys shall all ring with the praises of the Lord, when 'the glory 
of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together, for 
the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.' " 

Two weeks later she writes : "We have been having a painful 
and trying experience of fog and rain, damp and mould such as I 
have never known before and which will help me to sympathize with 
these missionaries as I could not had I not passed through it. Beds 
and clothes, furniture, walls, in fact everything is damp and mouldy. 
The shoes we take off at night are mouldy in the morning. My 
Bible is being spoiled, my dresses are moulding, and yet we do not 
take cold, but it is exceedingly uncomfortable and hard on our 
possessions. None of my clothes will look nice again, but this is 
a part of the heritage and we are reminded of the passage, 'They 
took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that ye have in 
heaven an enduring substance.' See also Matthew vi, verses 19, 
20 and 21, all of which applies to the Orient with the mould 
thrown in." 

"Last Saturday was the first fine day we have had for ten 



Studies in China 99 

days and we were busy putting out our mouldy clothes, bedding 
and books into the sun's rays. Oh, how everything is spoiled ! But 
these are among the losses and trials of this country." 

Of other days at Kuliang she writes: "The day I mailed your 
letters we had a union picnic at Little Bellevue, a most beautiful 
spot among the mountains. Between twenty and thirty of the dear 
missionaries who had heard the Savior say to them, 'Come ye apart 
and rest a while/ were gathered on the greensward. I could not 
but think of the scenes in Christ's life when he stole away from the 
multitude for quiet and refreshment. 

"The oneness of missionaries here is delightful. No denomi- 
national bars keep them apart. They are men and women of one 
work. We have been very busy these days writing to the secre- 
taries for the General Executive Meeting and preparing articles for 
the press. There is no time to be idle, but there is time for rest 
and recuperation. Saturday forty-seven of us went to Oxhead Fort 
and had another delightful time. The dear children of the mission 
enjoy these times so much. They have very little change in their 
lives. 

"The Convention opened on Sunday, the 21st. Two good 
sermons were a blessed preparation for the week before us. Monday 
morning I led a Bible reading. 'Holiness' was the theme. In the 
afternoon the theme was 'The Cross.' Tuesday morning 'The Holy 
Spirit,' Tuesday afternoon 'Our devotional hours.' All of these 
meetings have been very blessed. We are tarrying in our spiritual 
Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit is being manifested. Oh, how can 
any Christian live and labor for Jesus with any measure of success 
without the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire ! Even Jesus, who 
was sinless, received it. How much more do we need it! How 
the work of God is hindered in our own hearts and how the salva- 
tion of souls is retarded by the failure of Christians to make ready 
for and pray for and believe for His incoming ! Oh, do not delay, 
but wait on Him for His power that you may do better work for 
Him who has redeemed you with His precious love ! 

"The last two days the wind has been blowing and we thought 

Lore 



100 Mary Clarke Nind 

we were in for a typhoon, but it proved to be the effect of one 
raging somewhere else. We were so thankful because, as they 
usually last a week, we should not have been able to hold our con- 
vention, and many of the missionaries came from afar and must 
soon return to their fields of labor after having been invigorated in 
both body and soul by their stay on this mountain. 

"August 4. Our meetings have been in progress. Oh, they 
have been such a privilege and such a spiritual uplift! On Friday 
the subject was Tire and Tribulation.' Little we realized how soon 
we should need the experience of Divine Comfort. I went out for 
a walk after the meeting and accepted an invitation to tea, and by 
the light of the moon shining from a cloudless sky we came home. 
As we were nearing home we were met by a number of missionaries 
bearing the sad tidings that a secret society which some months 
ago had threatened the lives of the English Church missionaries, 
but which had been quieted at the time, taking advantage of the 
missionaries being away from the city in their mountain home, 
renewed the hostilities and early in the morning went to the cottages 
and killed Mr. and Mrs. Stewart and terribly wounded three of 
their five children, so that one, a boy seven years old, has since 
died. The baby may die and the little girl will probably lose her 
leg. Their governess was killed while trying to protect the baby. 
Besides these, two Miss Saunders of Australia, the only daughters 
of a widowed mother, who was preparing to come here and live 
with them, Miss Marshall of Black Heath, Miss Gordon of Aus- 
tralia, Miss Newcomb from Ireland and Miss Stewart of England 
were all brutally murdered. Miss Codrington, the only one of their 
mission who escaped, is very seriously wounded. She fell at the 
first stroke, bleeding from her wounds and lay still, and they left 
her for dead. Our Miss Hartford had a most miraculous escape. 
She was attacked in her door and the man shouted, 'Here is another 
foreign woman/ and tried to strike her with a spear, but she 
seized the weapon and turned the blow from her heart to the side 
of her head. Then he tried to cut off her legs. At this moment her 
strong and faithful servant arrived and wrestled with the murderer, 



Studies in China 101 

and while they wrestled she ran as fleet as a deer down the road ; 
becoming exhausted, she jumped down an embankment, lay there 
a while and rested. Then her teacher's wife helped her up and she 
started on again, but was again obliged to stop for rest, but finally 
reached some woods, where she lay until the mob had gone. Four 
of the martyrs were burned and only a few of their remains were 
found. The other six will be buried today in the English cemetery. 

"Our meetings on Saturday were turned into weeping and 
prayer meetings, for the missionaries here are colleagues and friends 
of these martyrs. The wounded are being cared for at the hospital 
at Foochow. It is an awful massacre, but the blood of the martyrs 
is the seed of the Church, and out of this thick darkness will come 
light; out of this sorrow, joy; out of this death, life; out of this 
destruction, resurrection; out of this mystery, revelation. 

Saturday morning one of the colleagues of the glorified martyrs 
led the meeting and we sang 'God Moves in a Mysterious Way,' 
'How Firm a Foundation,' 'Our God, Our Help in Ages Past,' and 
Luther's hymn, 'A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,' and read the 46th 
Psalm. Oh, we had such tearful but believing prayers. 

"In the afternoon we had another meeting and we read the 37th 
Psalm. I never saw so much of comfort in it before. We sang a 
hymn, had a few prayers and then came a request from the Amer- 
ican Consul for a rescue party. We did not know then all the terri- 
ble facts. We supposed only four were killed and the party were 
going in search of the others. Alas, the four killed proved to be 
ten and of the wounded some may die, for since I wrote the few 
lines above another messenger has arrived saying two of the chil- 
dren and Miss Codrington are fearfully wounded. Oh, it is so 
heart-sickening! I cannot write more. But do not be anxious, my 
dear ones. We are immortal till our work is done. If we can 
glorify the Master more by our death than life, His Will be done. 
We do not anticipate any trouble here. The dear Lord only knows. 
Our times are in His hands." 

In September she wrote : "We are having beautiful September 
weather on the mountain, though it is hot and very sickly in the 



102 Mary Clarke Nind 

city. It is estimated by Dr. Renney, the city physician, that 10,000 
have died from cholera. Very few Christians have died, so that the 
heathen marvel greatly at their exemption. 

"Letters are arriving bearing testimony to the deep interest 
awakened by the martyrdom of our dear missionaries and the many 
prayers ascending on their behalf and in behalf of the work here. 
Our nine o'clock prayer-meetings have been seasons of great re- 
freshing as well as times of earnest supplication, praise and prayer 
blending sweetly. Letters from the homelands have been read from 
the bereaved ones, evidencing the direct answers to prayer for the 
sustaining grace of God. Mrs. Saunders, the widowed mother, 
bereft of her two children, all that she had, writes, The Lord glori- 
ously sustains. If I had two more daughters I would joyfully give 
them to China.' Miss Marshall, a sister of one of the martyrs, says : 
'The joy of the Lord so fills my soul I have not room for mourning. 
What an honored sister I am to have a sister wearing a martyr's 
crown !' There are letters from other friends in the same triumphant 
strain, while the Secretaries are writing they hope to send more 
missionaries on to fill up the ranks. That is how we did in the time 
of the war. Who thought of giving up the struggle and abandoning 
the field because at Bull Run, Antietam and other places 
our men fell by the thousands? The clarion cry went out a 'Hun- 
dred Thousand More,' and noble men and boys responded. Shall 
the Church of God be less valiant and heroic ? 'Though ten thou- 
sand fall, Africa must be redeemed,' said the now glorified Cox, and 
so say we of China. 

"We are not doing much these days but praying and praising 
in our meetings and our homes. The missionaries are hindered 
from going to their work by the cholera and the disturbances, and 
this waiting time is a pentecost to us and a preparation for coming 
duties and trials. I have had some blessed times, leading meetings 
and preaching the gospel on the mountain, and shall be loth to 
leave it to go down into the crowded, filthy, unhealthy, wicked city, 
but shall obey the 'Go Down' as I obeyed the 'Go Up.' 

"October 1. We are back at Foochow. We came down yester- 



Studies in China 103 

day. We had a most propitious time for leaving the mountain. 
It rained in the early morning and we thought we should not be able 
to go, but after breakfast it cleared a little and we proceeded to 
pack, and by 2 45 everything in the cottage was disposed of. Some 
things were put away for next year and the rest put in baskets for 
the coolies to carry, for everything from an organ to a person is car- 
ried by men. I wish you could have seen the procession. I would like 
to have had a photograph of it had it been possible. It took sixteen 
coolies to carry our family in our sedan chairs. Then the loads 
are carried by means of a yoke, each load being swung by ropes, be- 
ing careful to divide the load into equal quantities. One man car- 
ried ten chairs of different kinds, only singularly adjusted. Twenty- 
one coolies carried all our belongings. One load consisted of my 
combined bureau and desk filled with clothing and bedding. This 
was borne by two men. Another man carried all the kitchen 
utensils; another one son's typewriter, letter press and office books. 
These men carried these loads for ten miles and were paid 25 cents 
each for their labor. Everything was moved from the cottage on 
the mountain to our home in Foochow and safely deposited by 6 
p. m. It makes my heart ache to see these toilers working so hard 
for so little, but foreigners pay them much better than their own 
people, and the house was surrounded by women, girls and children 
asking to carry a load, for women carry these heavy loads. 

"The cholera is still here and the community physician prohibits 
the College and Boys' School opening. Our Women's School will 
not open until after Conference. No missionaries can return to the 
interior and the problem now is where to put all the detained mis- 
sionaries. All can find plenty of work to do in this city of a million 
inhabitants and we are praying that the enforced waiting here may 
be not only a spiritual blessing to them but to the city so densely 
dark in heathenism and so opposed to the religion of our Lord and 
Savior, Jesus Christ." 



CHAPTER XVII 

CELEBRATION OF HER SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY 

"October 8. The great event of the week has been the prepara- 
tion for and the celebration of my seventieth birthday, which is con- 
sidered a venerable age in China. Some of the college boys who 
belong to my Bible class and some of the preachers had been invited 
to a Chinese feast. Somehow the men of the Publishing House, 
of which my son-in-law, Rev. W. H. Lacy, is superintendent, heard 
it was my birthday and yesterday I was surprised by an elegant 
scroll representing prosperity, longevity and happiness, ornamenting 
the room, and two pyramids adorned with unique pictures of Chinese 
life and large lighted candles, the whole presenting a very pretty 
scene. At half past 9 in the morning the men from the Publishing 
House, having received permission to leave their work, called at the 
house to express their congratulations. Each one came to the front 
and bowed most profoundly as they entered the hall ; then they filed 
into the parlor and stood in order of rank in the office while I spoke 
to them. My heart was strangely moved and warmed and I felt it 
a privilege once more to break to the Chinese the Bread of Eternal 
Life. Then followed prayer and the singing of the doxology. 

"But the men desired to speak, and so the foreman and the head 
compositor each made kind, earnest speeches, thanking me for my 
sermons and labors among them, congratulating me that I had lived 
so long and expressing the hope that I might live many more years 
and reach my home safely. They asked me not to despise China, 
but to love her and pray for her, and especially to pray that God 
would raise up from among their own people men and women who 
should teach and preach Christ until China should be redeemed. 

"Tea and pastry were served, and, grasping their hands, we said, 
'Bing Ang' which means peace. Then the servants conspired to- 
gether and the men gave me scrolls, the nurse a pin and Chinese 



106 Mary Clarke Nind 

shoes. I also received two cards from two of my dear boys with 
congratulations and a handsome scroll from another. Another boy 
sent three things, scroll, red candles and fire-crackers, which always 
accompany all kinds of gatherings. According to Chinese custom, 
I should receive two of the gifts, whichever I chose, and return the 
third. I chose the scroll for myself and the fire-crackers for the 
children. As this is the first anniversary of my birth that I have 
been at home with any of my loved ones for many years, I am enjoy- 
ing it greatly. 

"After dinner the pastor, three teachers from the college and 
the monitor, who is one of our noted native brethren, called with a 
present and made some neat little speeches. They brought me a 
little carving representing the cormorants fishing, and they said, 
'You have been in China a fisher of souls and your joy has been 
very great, as you have brought souls to Jesus. May you fish many 
more years for Him.' Thus spoke the pastor. Then a brother said, 
'Sixty, seventy, eighty are great ages in China, but we hope that 
you may live to ninety, yes, one hundred, to preach Jesus. The 
mountains are high and tell of stability, the sea is broad and wide ; 
thus has your life been, thus may it ever be.' Our celebrated native 
preacher, who represented this conference at the General Conference 
in 1888, wrote a very nice note, expressing his regret that he was 
too weak to come but sending me two copies of his book. He has 
recently cut off his queue, regarding it as a mark of subjection to 
heathen custom. He is the aggressive man of this Conference, but 
I fear his active work is ended, though he is under sixty years of 
age. Mrs. Ahok, of whom I have before written, sent me a pin and 
some scrolls, so that our parlor is decorated with a number of scrolls 
today, and each one bears some kind message to me. 

"October 9. Yesterday was a busy, happy day. Calls all day 
and many tokens of remembrance. The sweet notes of appreciation 
for services so gladly rendered to missionaries and the work have 
filled me with the deepest gratitude and humility. This morning I 
received thirty-two beautiful letters from missionaries of other 
churches than our own who were detained at Kuliang. These con- 



Celebration of Her Seventieth Birthday 107 

tained checks amounting to $45. Pastors, teachers, college students 
and others were at the feast last night and a few women, among 
them Mrs. Ahok in her elegant attire as a mandarin's wife. The 
women were received in one room, the men in another. We women 
sat at tables apart from the men. The tables were placed on the 
verandas, for as no plates are used many things find their way to 
the floor. There were fifty-two seated at the tables here at the 
house and thirty-two at the Publishing House. Quite a host to feed, 
but the seventieth birthday is considered in China a most memorable 
occasion. 

"October 10 (after the birthday reception). We had a wonder- 
ful day. There were sixty-two at the reception, and such giving of 
large and small gifts and such notes and letters greatly surprised 
me, but that which most overwhelmed me with surprise and praises 
with love to the donors and the Lord who had prompted it was a 
check from English and Irish missionaries, from some members of 
the American Board, from Presbyterians, Congregationalists and 
Dutch Reformed, and from our own dear girls of the Japan, Central 
China and Foochow Conferences, for $125, which was beautifully 
presented in a speech by Miss Sites, so that I am thus helped on my 
way by the expression thus given of their appreciation of services 
rendered here and what they hope I will do for India. I give the 
Giver of gifts all the praise, 'Who giveth me all things richly to 
enjoy/ " 

It may be explained in this connection that Rev. and Mrs. W. H. 
Lacy (Emma Nind) had been residents of Foochow for many 
years. Here Mr. Lacy was the superintendent of the Publishing 
House and both he and his wife had from time to time taught in 
the Mission schools and participated in the abundant work which is 
always awaiting our missionaries in foreign lands. Here their 
family of four sons and one daughter had been reared, and here all 
except the two eldest sons were born. 

Birthday celebrations being over, only a few more weeks re- 
mained during which we were to enjoy mother's presence in 
the home, for plans were maturing for a visit to India. Twelve 



108 Mary Clarke Nind 

months had passed since we met her in Shanghai, after eight years 
of separation, and together journeyed up the Yangtse river. What 
a benediction to us as a family her presence had been ! Her happy 
disposition, ever radiant with the sunshine of His presence, often 
cheered us in our perplexities and discouragements, and strength- 
ened our faith during the many dark days of that eventful year. 
The five children learned sweet lessons from their grandmother and 
will ever be grateful that they had the opportunity of knowing her 
whom not having seen they early had learned to love. While her 
brothers were in school our little three-year-old daughter frequently 
made her grandma's room her play room and when the servants 
wished to communicate with the "venerable mother teacher" little 
Alice was the interpreter, to her grandma's convenience and 
great delight. Our fellow missionaries rejoiced with us in mother's 
companionship, and the many manifestations of their friendship to 
which she refers in the account of her birthday celebrations were 
only suggestive of their great appreciation of her sympathy in their 
work and of her labors of love for the Chinese wherever oppor- 
tunity offered. 

A few days before leaving Foochow, while waiting on the wharf 
for the arrival of the friend who was to accompany her to India, 
mother took pencil and paper and wrote her 

"farewell to china." 

"China, farewell! Farewell to thy hills, mountains and valleys; to thy 
rice fields, and well-tilled farms; to thy rivers, rivulets and rushing moun- 
tain streams; to thy bold and beautiful scenery; to thy trees, flowers and 
fruits; to all the prospects that please in the realm of nature, where our 
Father has dealt with a lavish hand, farewell! 

"Farewell to thy narrow, noisy, crowded, filthy streets, where pestiferous 
odors, rising from accumulated heaps of offal and refuse, which lie undis- 
turbed for years by any road commissioner or health officer, are breeding 
disease and death. Farewell to thy poverty-stricken, depressed and op- 
pressed masses; to thy poor, weary toilers and burden-bearers; to thy half- 
clad, half -fed millions; to thy beggars, blind, lame, withered and leprous, 
loathesome and piteous to behold! Farewell to thy dark, dreary, dirty houses, 
where many generations exist, crowded and cursed by heathenism! 

"Farewell to thy ancestral halls and homes of wealth and plenty! 



Celebration of Her Seventieth Birthday 109 

Farewell to thy corrupt and weak government, for truth has fallen in the 
streets and equity cannot enter! Farewell to thy shrines, temples, pagodas, 
with their corrupt priests, their multitudes of idols, their ancestral wor- 
ship, their incense burning and idol worshiping; their pilgrims and their 
pilgrimages; their gongs and bells and drums that, like the prophets of 
Baal, in vain call the gods to come to the worshipers. 

" Farewell to thy myriads of graves, and the prostrate weepers and 
wailers, rending the air with their hideous yells! Farewell to thy unburied, 
uncoffmed dead, waiting for time, or cash, or a lucky day, to give them 
interment ! 

"Farewell to thy degraded, dejected women, betrothed without their 
consent, servants and slaves of men; and to thy neglected, dejected, despised 
widows! To all the poor people who dwell in gross darkness sitting in the 
region of the shadow of death, farewell! 

"Farewell to all the happy homes organized and perpetuated by our holy 
Christianity; to their family altars and blessed harmony and love; to the 
thousands washed, cleansed and purified by the atonement; to all the native 
Churches, with their preachers, teachers, members, catechists, Bible-women, 
evangelists and colporteurs; to the noble band of missionaries; to the schools, 
Sunday, day, boarding, kindergarten and training; to the orphanages and 
colleges; to the churches and chapels and homes, in city and country where 
the Word of God is preached, taught and sung; to the tent-meetings, con- 
ferences and conventions; to the hospitals and dispensaries; to the blessed 
fellowship with godly men and women who have borne the burden and 
heat of the day for love of Christ and souls; to the graves of the martyrs 
and the cemetery where rests in glorious hope their sleeping dust! Fare- 
well ! Farewell ! 

"To this land rocked by war, infested by plague and cholera; on the 
eve of a mighty revolution which shall ' Prepare the way of the Lord and 
make his paths straight when the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all 
flesh shall see it together! To the land where rich harvests are about to 
be gathered, as the result of prayerful seed-sowing; where more laborers 
are needed, and other heroes must come to take the places of the crowned 
martyrs! To the land of Sinim, of which the Prophet Isaiah writes! 

"To this land with its industrious, patient, plodding, persevering, artistic, 
ancient and in some respects ambitious people; this cosmopolitan, yet con- 
servative race, with its ancient literature, its classics! To this land where 
the New Testament is now in the hands of the Emperor and Empress; this 
land for which more prayers are offered and toward which more eyes are 
turned than ever before! 

"Land of contrasts; of ignorance and knowledge; of poverty and wealth; 



110 Mary Clarke Nind 

of darkness and light; of idolatry and Christianity; land of science and land 
of slavery; land of immense undeveloped resources, where millions yet lack 
the necessities of life! Land of Confucius and land of Sinim, farewell! Still 
we love thee and laud thee, and pity and pray for thee, believe and expect 
great things of thee; for China shall be a redeemed people! 
1 ' China, loved China, our China ! Farewell ! Farewell ! ' ' 



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ILLUMINATED SCROLL PRESENTED TO MARY C. NIND 



upon the occasion of her seventieth birthday by her Chinese admirers in Foo Chow 



mm—— i^— — rtrif iii m 

front 

MJanbll?rauflKU<Bi 



Obeying the Lord s command, from a great 
distance you have come to our Ming Chiang. 

You have faced weariness and encountered 
untold dangers to reach us from the far away 
United States. 

You have taught us how to ohtain eternal 
life and avoid eternal destruction. 

Your years are multiplied, — your example 
is like unto the ancient sages. 

You have healed our sinsick hearts with 
medicine from ahove. 

Like a mother, your example has been 
worthy of our imitation, especially have our 
women folk been benefited by your holy 
example. 

Thanks! more than -words can express, to 
the Grace which brought you, and for your 
help, which has been as clouds and ram to a 
thirsty land. 

Your name is sounded abroad, — its frag- 
rance has encircled the globe. 

To express our inmost hearts regard, we 
subscribe these few words. 

May long life be granted you, even life 
eternal, and all the praise and glory will we 
ascribe unto our Lord God. 






TRANSLATION OF THE SCROLL 

presented to Mary C. Nind on the occasion of her seventieth birthday by admirers in China 



CHAPTER XVIII 

STRAIT SETTLEMENTS AND INDIA 

"November 6. Bound for Hong Kong. This good ship For- 
mosa is a fine cargo boat, with a fine deck for walking, and has kind 
officers, and we are a happy party. Yesterday was a heavy sea and 
the boat rolled and rolled; one by one the passengers went to their 
berths, not all seasick but feeling queer. I staid up and played with 
little Evan Stewart. I made him a kite and we had a good time 
together. Just before supper the wind changed and we are now 
going on at the rate of fifteen miles an hour and everything is lovely. 
This ship goes to England, stopping only at Hong Kong, Singapore 
and Columbo, and will reach England, God willing, in time for the 
Christmas festivities. 

"November 12. Here we are in the China Sea. We have been 
having three days of very rough weather, with a northeast monsoon 
and the end of a typhoon. It is hard to keep anything on the table. 
Dishes, though strapped within the frames, danced lively. The soup 
and tea were spilled, water flooded some of the rooms, and we had 
hard work to keep on our chairs, although they were tied to the 
deck. I have felt well nearly all the time, better than on any previous 
passage. Prayers are being heard on my behalf. 

"November 13. We are having now a calm sea, and last night 
we had a delightful rest, the best we have had since we left Hong 
Kong, and now we are hoping for good weather till we reach our 
beloved Singapore tomorrow. We have had a nice 'homey' time 
on this voyage. I prefer this kind of a ship to a mail steamer with 
its hundreds of passengers. 

"November 14. We arrived at Singapore in a pouring rain. 
The entrance to the city is very pretty. You are impressed with its 
tropical beauty. How my heart beat with joy as my eyes beheld 
this place, which for years I have longed to see, and how good of my 



112 Mary Clarke Nind 

Father to give me the privilege. We had an early breakfast and 
waited until the rain ceased, then took a carriage ride. Oh, what a 
treat to reach civilization once more! Here are fine, smooth Eng- 
lish roads, good horses and carriages, no bad odors, good drain- 
age. A nice ride of four miles through the city brought us to the 
*Mary C. Nind Deaconess Home, where we surprised the dear 
friends. You can imagine the welcome ; it was cordial, I assure you. 
The Home is a large building situated on Mount Sophia, Sophia 
Road, where Sophia Blackmore is the presiding power. The weather 
is about like the rainy, sticky weather in Foochow. I am perspiring 
here all the time as I did there in the hottest weather, and things 
mould here as they do in Foochow, but the nights are cool, and a 
blanket is in use before morning. I have a large and comfortable 
room and plenty of soft water. Everything is homelike and the 
dear girls are lovely to me. 

"Later. This is a very beautiful city, and if you did not see so 
many nationalities you might believe yourself in England, so, of 
course, I like it. Here are Hindus, Mohammedans, Tamils, Chinese, 
Babas, Eurasians and Europeans. I am delighted with the work 
here. Its rapid development and success are astonishing. Please 
remember that the Women's Foreign Missionary Society work here 
is not yet nine years old, and that of the General Missionary So- 
ciety only ten years old, and yet much of this work is self-support- 
ing. We have fifteen missionaries here besides native assistants. 
One very important work is the teaching in the homes of the 
wealthy. Even those who are not Christians pay our Christian 
teachers and receive instruction in divine things. Every one is 
anxious to learn English, so we gain access to many heathen homes. 
I was much interested in a visit that I made to one of these beauti- 
ful homes. It was light, airy, well ventilated, beautifully clean and 
elegantly furnished. Six children were all singing our hymns and 



*The Deaconess' Home in Singapore was named Mary C. Nind, because 
when they were so sadly in need of a Home for the workers of the Women's 
Foreign Missionary Society in that city and the Women's Foreign Mis- 
sionary Society had no money with which to build, Mrs. Nind gave the 
money to build the Home. 



Strait Settlement and India 113 

reciting the doctrines of our Church, and yet their parents were 
heathen, but the Word of God liveth and abideth forever. One 
dear old woman, the only one of another wealthy family, who has 
recently been baptized and has endured much persecution, was so 
glad to see me. She shook my hands and kissed me again and 
again. Every one shakes hands here. I have talked in the Epworth 
League and in several of the day schools and have much enjoyed 
my work. 

"This is Monday morning and I am a little weary. I preached 
in the Malay Church yesterday morning and two were baptized. 
One of those baptized was a man who twenty-six years ago re- 
ceived his first impression of the truth, and now is the only Christian 
in his family and he is enduring persecution for Christ's sake. In the 
afternoon I was greatly helped by the Lord in preaching to a large 
English and Eurasian Congregation. I was earnestly solicited to 
preach again in the evening, but decided that that was too much for 
my strength, though my soul longed to do it. 

"Tuesday morning. Yesterday was a busy day. We went to the 
Government Gardens, which cover sixty-six acres and were laid out 
in 1873. We went in a cart drawn by a beautiful pony along these 
smooth English roads. Oh, what a blessed change from sedan 
chairs ! I forgot to tell you that yesterday I addressed the 600 boys 
of our school. It was an inspiring scene. Today I addressed an- 
other school which Lady Mitchell examines. Lady Mitchell is the 
wife of the Governor and came to examine the needle work, and ex- 
pressed herself highly pleased with the progress made." 

Just here we will insert an article that was written by mother 
on Singapore and Penang for the Missionary Friend: 

"The earnest longing of our heart has been at last realized. November 
15th, we set foot in the equatorial, tropical, beautiful city of Singapore, with 
its broad streets like those of dear old England, on which you go spinning 
along smoothly in the comfortable gharrys and feel a sense of relief that 
horses do the work which men do in Japan and China. We are impressed 
and interested in its cosmopolitan people, for here the nations of the earth 
are represented and yet we breathe so easily and freely under the Union Jack 
which here protects everyone. 



114 Mary Clarke Nind 

"What a comfort to inhale fresh air, untainted by offensive odors, and 
"being once more in a city bearing the impress of Christian civilization. We 
visited the government parks and gardens, where tropical trees, ferns and 
flowers flouish in rich luxuriance. We rode under the shade of bamboos 
and other trees and were sheltered from the burning sun and thought of 
Him ' whose banner over us is love.' 'But what came we out for to see?' 
Dearer than all the beauties of nature are the workers and the work and we 
have had a busy, happy week with both. More than ever is Singapore en- 
deared to us and more grateful than ever are we for the devoted workers 
and the work accomplished. Some of the workers we had met in the home- 
land; the names of most of the missionaries were as familiar as those of our 
own kith and kin and we were warmly welcomed by them all. Our beloved 
deaconesses are fairly well, despite their abundant labor and the trying 
climate. 

"We were there from November 16th to 20th and were in a continual 
bath of perspiration. Hair and clothing were wet — not simply damp — 
and this is the cool season; what must it be in the hot and with no sanitarium 
or summer resort near, where they can escape from the heat and recuperate? 
The Deaconess' Homes are commodious, airy and well built, but very simply 
furnished. In both these buildings the children are gathered. In one is 
an interesting day school and the orphans are in the other home. These rep- 
resent various nations and shades of color, from the dark-skinned Tamil to 
the fair Eurasian. Our hearts were stirred as we looked into the faces of 
these dear children in the day school and gathered with the orphans at the 
hour of evening worship. We visited some of the day schools. At the 
one in Middle Eoad much time had been spent in decorating the room with 
ferns and flowers and the platform was a bower of beauty. 

"The schools in the homes of the wealthy are a very important feature of 
our work, where the children of Chinese parents not yet Christians are will- 
ing to pay for their education and also willing that they should be in- 
structed in the doctrine. What may we not hope from these instructions, 
since the Word of God liveth and abideth forever. In one of these homes 
we met the first woman who was baptized publicly. She is a bright, earnest 
woman of fifty, the only one in her family who has renounced idolatry. 
She has endured much persecution for Christ's sake, but stands firm and 
unshaken and exhorts many to believe in Jesus. The deaconesses call her 
'Their Chinese Mother,' though really she is their daughter in the gospel 
and one of the trophies given them to lay at the Master's feet. Whether 
we consider the work done in the day schools, Sunday-schools, open air 
services, home visitation or orphanage, we are filled with praise for the 
growth of the work has been most cheering. When on Tuesday afternoon 
there were gathered in our Home about seventy-five children and adults, the 



Strait Settlement and India 115 

majority of whom were non-Christian, but welcome guests and attentive 
listeners to the truth, our hearts were much encouraged. ' ' 

"November 21. My last letter was closed the day we left Singa- 
pore for Penang. Many dear friends accompanied us to the ship. 
We reached Penang Friday morning and went in a sampan to the 
wharf and in a gharry to the house. We reached the mission house, 
which is used for a home, school and church, and is very pleasantly 
situated on the seashore. Our stay in Penang was necessarily short 
and we are now having a delightfully smooth passage to Rangoon, 
which we hope to reach this afternoon. 



CHAPTER XIX 

EXPERIENCES IN INDIA 

"November 27. I forgot to tell you of a thrilling incident that 
occurred one day. The fourth officer spied, or, as I should say, 
sighted a boat that was raising a signal of distress. Sailors were 
ordered to the life-boat. The captain went six miles out of his course 
to meet the boat which was in distress. They came alongside and 
one of the men went down to find out the trouble. They had left 
Penang fifteen days ago to go to Ceylon and had anchored near 
shore near Penang, but in a storm, while they were sleeping, the 
anchor gave way and they drifted out, lost their reckoning and were 
in mid-ocean. One sail was lost, their anchor gone, their water and 
food supply were well nigh exhausted ; they were living on one meal 
a day and expecting to die in a day or two for want of supplies. 
They had signaled one steamer, which priest and Levite-like had 
passed them by, and they were about in despair when they sighted 
our ship. The good captain gave them food and water, made them 
fast to our ship, and in the trough of our steamer they tossed about, 
waves dashing in. There were eight men in the boat and one poor 
old sick woman. Our captain went out of his course fifty miles 
to take them in sight of their island. Oh, how grateful the captain 
of the junk was ! He was a Burmese, who spoke good English. Our 
captain said to him, T must have $1,000 for saving you and for my 
loss of time.' The poor fellow replied, T have no money, sir ; make 
me your servant forever/ Then said the captain, T will take you all 
prisoners and at Penang keep you there till you can pay all I ask 
or behead you.' I wish you could have seen the beaming face of the 
poor Burmese as he replied, 'Captain, you did not save me to kill 
me?' I thought his gratitude and willingness to be a servant for- 
ever was typical of our love for our Redeemer and his trust in the 
captain should be ours in the Lord, 'He that spared not His own Son 



118 Mary Clarke Nind 

but freely gave Him up for us all will He not with Him also freely 
give us all things ?' The captain gave them plenty of rice and water 
and in sight of their own island we waved them adieu, they return- 
ing their salams. 

"Rangoon, Thanksgiving day. We reached here on Tuesday, the 
place where Judson first began his work. Rangoon is a pretty city 
with beautiful rides and drives. We ride before breakfast and after 
supper. Yesterday morning we went to the largest pagoda in the 
world. Its base is one mile in circumference. Its height 322 feet. 
It is covered from base to top with gold-leaf, which is renewed every 
three years. All over the grounds are many representations of 
Buddha and hundreds of idle, worthless priests who live on the peo- 
ple and do nothing. There are gorgeous shrines in all sorts of de- 
signs, architectural beauty, wonderful carvings, the whole costing 
millions of dollars and the pagoda worshiped by millions of dev- 
otees. It defies all my powers of description. If I had not un- 
wavering faith in God and our holy Christianity and the promises 
which assure us that the idols shall be utterly abolished and that to 
our Christ every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, standing 
in the presence of this gorgeous display of heathenism which never 
lacks money or worshipers, I should be discouraged ; but despite all, 
our God is marching on and so we turn with joy to our schools here. 

"We have in our day and boarding schools here 220, all study- 
ing English. Then we have a Burmese day school with thirty-five 
on the roll. Nearly all these scholars pay tuition fees. This work is 
largely self-supporting and has had very little help from either so- 
ciety. It was my privilege to talk to the schools one morning and go 
through the buildings and dormitories of the boarding school and 
orphanage. The Burmans are a very nice looking people, much 
handsomer than Japanese or Chinese. The women are particularly 
well formed and handsome, dressing in bright colors, but here as in 
Singapore we have the varied nationalities. It is very nice to be 
able to talk wherever I go now without the aid of an interpreter. 

"November 30. We had our Thanksgiving dinner at Pegu, fifty 
miles from here. We visited a Burmese school and also a Tamil 



?■ 2 
> 
o 



s 




Experiences in India 119 

school and the children were very interesting. There seems to be 
no caste in these new schools, the poor and the well-to-do meet to- 
gether and co-education is in order. We called on our way from 
the station to behold a feast in honor of the consecration of a priest 
who was a mere boy of thirteen. He may or may not continue in 
the priesthood for three months. They feast and revel for days and 
bring to him and other priests who are present numerous and costly 
gifts, which are borne away to his house in pomp, and for which 
they expect to receive merit. These priests are lazy beggars, who 
do but little more than live on the people and go into the priesthood 
for the spoils and leave it at pleasure. 

"Bay of Bengal, December 2. Thursday evening I preached the 
gospel to a good and attentive congregation. Saturday we went to 
see the working elephants at the large lumber mill. Three of these 
elephants carry away the lumber when it is sawed and ready for 
piling. Lumber of all lengths and weight, from a thousand pounds 
down, they carry and put into neat piles, adapting their mode of car- 
rying to the lumber and distance, now taking the rope in their mouth 
and dragging it along, then lifting it on their tusks, being careful to 
balance it perfectly; then carrying it to its respective pile, lifting it 
up, looking with a careful eye to see if it is piled evenly and pushing 
it with tusk or foot till it is properly placed. It is a wonderful sight, 
excelling anything I have yet seen. We are now in the Bay of 
Bengal, having a most delightfully smooth passage and moonlight 
nights. Everyone says that from now till May is the time for 
smooth seas on this route — at least until you reach the Mediterranean 
and there it is always rough. 

"December 5. Calcutta is an 'Englishfied' heathen city with 
street cars, railways, waterworks and gas. We have a large and 
flourishing church in which Dr. Thorburn used to preach before 
he became bishop, and its spiritual tone is excellent. Brother 
Warne is full of the Holy Ghost and fire and conversions are fre- 
quent in his church. At almost every service some are seeking 
pardon or purity. Last Sabbath I preached twice and had a blessed 
time, and about twenty rose for prayers. 



120 Mary Clarke Nind 

"Our girls' schools are pervaded by the same atmosphere. The 
teachers all the time are prayerfully laboring for the conversion of 
our girls, most of whom are now Christians. Then, we have here 
a boys' and girls' orphanage, work among the seamen, a temper- 
ance coffee-house, Bengali and Hindustani work, zenana work and 
an industrial school. 

"December n. Last evening was the Calcutta Girls' School 
literary contest. It was a very meritorious affair. Girls in America 
of their ages could not have done better. Some of these girls were 
taken from miserable homes but have been trained, educated and 
many of them saved by the 'Mighty to save.' It was soul inspir- 
ing and a rich encouragement to the workers to see these dear 
girls, most of them Eurasians, all speaking the Anglo-Saxon, evi- 
dencing such talent in their compositions, recitations and music. 
I shall ever after this be more than ever interested in this school. 
This morning we have been to visit in the Zenanas. One family 
visited were of a very high caste. The Zenana was a pleasant one 
on the upper floor but of course they cannot see out into the public 
street. The lady, a nice looking woman now twenty-seven years 
old, was married when she was thirteen. She is the mother of nine 
children, three of whom are boys. Two girls married at the same 
age as their mother and one married at the age of ten. The chil- 
dren are very handsome but the mother said she did not want so 
many girls, for it cost her 4,000 rupees each to get them married 
and they must be married or there would be no peace in the family. 
In this family are two widows, dressed in their simple garb, who, 
because they are widows, have only one meal a day, no fish or meat, 
and twice during the month for two days not a drop of water or 
a bite of food passes their lips. I told them of my widowhood, how 
my children honored me, how the Word of God had its blessed 
promises to the widow to which they responded, Tt is good ; I wish 
our religion was like that.' The mother is longing to learn and to 
know, but with her daughters is a prisoner for life. The second 
Zenana visited was not so pleasant a one, but the home of an 
intelligent man who comes to our church and last Sunday heard 



Experiences in India 121 

me preach twice and wanted his wife to see me. The mother, a 
daughter and two other women are in this Zenana. The daughter, 
fourteen years of age, is married but the father will not let her go 
to her husband till she is more matured. He is receiving some bit- 
ter persecution for his advanced views, but he steadily adheres 
and the daughter gladly acquiesces. The mother is a very fine look- 
ing woman, with lustrous black eyes and a beaming smile. I wish 
you could have seen the eagerness with which they listened to the 
gospel story and asked for more in word and song. How I real- 
ized the need of more workers for these hungry women, millions 
of whom thus imprisoned are willing, and many of them eager, to 
hear the doctrine and also to receive it, but it means the loss of all 
things. Then they admire our physical comfort. This is now the 
cold season in Calcutta. No house has a fire, though the tempera- 
ture is about like our October. These women live on stony floors, 
all are barefooted, one thin chudder is their only garment. They 
have jewels everywhere but they are cold. One woman said, 'Your 
way is better; you are warm and comfortable. I am shivering 
with the cold, but this is our custom. We cannot change it/ Poor 
women, longing for light and liberty and yet in bondage to their 
idols and their customs!" 



CHAPTER XX 

IN CALCUTTA AND CAWNPORE 

"December 16. I am having a very busy and happy time in 
Calcutta. I have been privileged to see much of the work here. 
The English-speaking work is very large and the consecrated pas- 
tor is rilled with the Holy Ghost. This church will seat 1,500 peo- 
ple. The Lord gave me the privilege of preaching there twice last 
Sabbath. The missionaries here seem possessed with a passion for 
soul-saving. The principal of our girls' school is a Holy Ghost 
woman and it is no wonder that so many of the girls are led to 
Jesus. Every morning, after chapel, the principal meets in her 
room those who are seeking the Lord. It was my joy to lead chapel 
services and to look into the faces of these dear girls, many of 
whom have come out of wretched homes, some of which I have 
visited. The Deaconness Home is a center of influence and a 
power of good. Every Thursday evening, after prayer meeting, 
the people are invited there for tea and cake. A wealthy man fur- 
nishes the means and these are times not for mere social talk but 
for spiritual hand-to-hand personal work for souls who are seeking 
pardon and purity. Our devoted superintendent does a great deal 
of work in the saloons and rescue work. She has a young man's 
class, a young woman's class, a temperance band, and in various 
avenues is seeking to save the lost. Many of the assistant Euras- 
ians are very earnest Christians, some of whom have been edu- 
cated in this school. 

"The distribution of prizes which I attended today was a most 
enjoyable affair from first to last. The dear children with their 
white sails took the house by storm. Twelve children, a boy and a 
girl alternating, all dressed in white flannel sailor suits and blue 
ties held their sails, then waved them, transformed them into cov- 
erings for their heads when the wind blew cold and gave them 



124 Mary Clarke Nind 

toothache, waved them when they went on deck, and how well they 
sang! 

"This morning we went to the largest Hindoo Temple. It is 
the only temple where they offer sacrifices with blood, goats and 
bulls, but they did not offer them this morning and I was glad 
they did not. This temple is dedicated to a frightful, repulsive 
looking idol. The fakirs (holy men, so called) are hideous to be- 
hold but they are the blind teachers of these millions of people. The 
worshipers crowd the temple perpetually, bringing their offerings 
of flowers and almost everyday the animals are sacrificed. There 
were other scenes too disgusting to be put on paper, and yet in the 
Parliament of Religions, Hinduism, so vile in its gods and books, 
was extolled. We saw the multitudes bathing in the streams into 
which the sacred Ganges flows. Men and women bathe together, 
not only themselves, but their clothes, rinse their mouths, clean 
their teeth, say their prayers, worship the sun and putting on their 
wet garments, walk out. A company of professional harlots, 
heavily jeweled from head to foot, and elegantly dressed came 
down to bathe, but were content to wash their feet, cross them- 
selves and sing through the streets for those who would enter the 
house of her 'Whose ways lead down to death and hell/ 

"Alahabad, December 18. Since I mailed my last I have been 
to visit our boys' orphanage and school, and our Hindustani schools, 
which meet in small mud houses. Many of these children have been 
picked up off the streets, and are there for a few hours of the day, 
kept from sin. The children in our boarding school are effectually 
sheltered from the pestilential atmosphere of their wicked homes. 

"Friday was absorbed in visiting other schools, packing, fare- 
wells and departing for this place. As it is in China, so it is here ; 
we have to take our food and bedding along, for there is no pro- 
vision on the train for bedding. We had a rough, dusty, hard ride, 
but we had the whole coach to ourselves all the way and so were 
favored. Soon after our arrival here, we attended the Christian 
Endeavor meeting. Preaching service at 8 o'clock on Sunday was 
followed by Sunday-school. Then I went to a Hindustani service 



In Calcutta and Cawnpore 125 

at noon and saw the preachers, teachers and the congregation, all 
of whom were very interesting people. I also saw some famine 
orphans, one of whom now is only a mere skeleton. Boys who 
came so wild it was hard to get them to wear clothes, are now 
clothed and in their right minds, sitting at Jesus' feet. 

"The Conference opened with a communion service, followed 
by an address from the bishop and was a most excellent season. 
At the close of the session, we visitors were introduced. After 
lunch there was a native gathering near our new school building. 
It was an inspiring sight to see these native girls from our board- 
ing school, the native Christian women and nearly 300 native chil- 
dren gathered from our day and Sunday schools. After this gath- 
ering the Women's Conference met. 

"December 21. We are still having very precious Conference 
sessions. Every meeting is so spiritual and there is such yearn- 
ing and believing for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is a 
great treat to be in such a spiritual Conference. 

"December 25. We had Christmas dinner at the Deaconness 
Home. This is a fine building. It was formerly a Mohammedan 
tomb, but is now occupied to save and bless the living. It was 
prettily decorated and illuminated with United States and English 
flags. Twenty-seven of us sat down to dinner. 

"Lucknow, December 26. The Conference wound up with a 
blessed love feast, followed by a preaching service in the morning, 
another in the afternoon, another in the evening and this last was 
followed by the ordination of elders. 

"Sitapur, January 4, 1896. After sending off my last letter 
we went to the residency of the King of Oudh, where he had four 
hundred wives when the British took possession. He had a small 
palace where he met the one he desired to see for that day. The 
residency is now let to various tenants and the palace is used for a 
hall where the missionaries have often preached the Word of God 
and where they hold their great gatherings. So all India shall 
yet be subdued to the Prince of Peace. 

"We went to the scene of the mutiny of 1857, and went down 



126 Mary Clarke Nind 

the cellar where the women and children were confined and finally 
massacred, and saw the buildings where the gallant officers were 
killed, visited their graves, saw one of the soldiers who was in the 
siege and escaped, walked through the beautiful gardens and 
praised God for the glorious work now being done where shot and 
shell and massacre had done its worst. 

"Friday, the 27th, we left for Cawnpore, another center of the 
mutiny, and saw the well where women and children, dead and 
alive, were thrown together. It is now a solid piece of fine ma- 
sonry, surrounded by a fence with a locked gate through which 
none but Europeans are admitted. We went down to the river 
where these aforesaid women and girls were put in boats under 
the promise of the leader of the mutiny that if the general would 
surrender, all these should be sent down the river in safety, but 
they were traitors and as soon as the women and girls were all in 
the boats, enemies in ambush shot at them, wounded and killed 
them and then threw them into the well. One of the men who was 
a boatman and saw all this dreadful carnage, said he just rejoiced 
and gloated over it. He is now a preacher of that gospel which he 
hated and one of the disciples of the Savior whom he persecuted, 
and is valiant for the truth. 

"Cawnpore is the Manchester of India. Flour, carpet, paper 
and other large factories give employment to thousands of people. 
Sunday morning, I talked to the Hindustani Sunday school of a 
hundred people and preached to a heathen congregation of three 
hundred people and to an English congregation of over three hun- 
dred, followed by an after meeting. Monday we visited the Hin- 
dustani school and were much pleased with its order and neatness. 
I talked to the girls and they gave me some of their experiences; 
then, to the Woman's Training School. Tuesday, we went back to 
Lucknow and on Wednesday had a great Sunday school fete, 
where about two thousand men and boys from the Sunday schools 
were gathered. I wish I could picture the scene, the procession 
with its band of music, its banners, its gaily attired men and boys, 
most of them Hindoos and Mohammedans, learning to sing our 



In Calcutta and Cawnpore 127 

hymns, recite the scriptures and read essays on Christ and Christ- 
mas. Our Christian girls and women were there also and sang and 
recited in the presence of these men. Thirty years ago, this was an 
impossibility. After these exercises the multitudes were fed and as 
we passed among them, I thought of the time when Jesus had com- 
passion and fed the thousands. Friday, we had a great gathering 
of women and girls, most of whom were not Christians. Many 
of them were Zenana women, elegantly dressed and loaded with 
jewels, everywhere from heaa to foot but they were learning the 
doctrine and it was so interesting to hear those women and chil- 
dren sing the songs of Zion and repeat the word of God. Some 
day there will be a rich fruitage from all this seed sowing. We went 
over to the Deaconness Home, the Home for Friendless Women 
and the school buildings and the college now in process of erec- 
tion. An immense plant altogether covering six acres. What hath 
God wrought! It is the Lord's doings and it is marvelous in our 
eyes. It fell to my lot to give an address to the women and then 
distribute the prizes. In the afternoon, we were on our way to 
Sitapur. This morning, we attended a native missionary meeting 
which was a model one, such good singing, such presiding, such 
reports and universal giving we were delighted to see and hear. 

"We had a good time at the Girls' school. The girls are such 
sweet singers. Sunday, January 5, was a good day. At the Hin- 
dustani Sunday school there were more than 200 present and I 
talked to them on 'Repentance' and went from there to the English 
service to speak to a congregation which was composed mostly of 
soldiers who were very attentive hearers. In the afternoon I 
preached to the Hindustani congregation, most of whom were 
Christians. The next morning, we inspected the girls' dormitories 
and found them very clean and orderly, and then went to see two 
new chapels in different parts of the city, then to the boys' day 
school where we have sixty Christian boys and a number of Brah- 
mins and Mohammedans, whom we hope will become Christians. 

"The weather is delightful, being dry and cool. I like the cli- 
mate better than the Foochow winter. I fear I am spoiled for cold 



128 Mary Clarke Nind 

weather. The roses are abundant, the houses are filled with their 
fragrance. Monday morning, after we had visited the Boys' school 
we made our preparations for going to the Bareilly Conference, 
which place we reached on Tuesday night. This morning we 
attended the Conference and made two addresses. At this Con- 
ference, as the Hindustani brethren are largely represented, the 
work is carried on in their own language so I cannot understand a 
great deal. I visited the Orphanage. This family with the 
missionaries and assistants is the largest in India. I also vis- 
ited the hospital and dispensary, the patients and physicians. 
What a gift to our society from a heathen was that building and 
forty acres of land on which we have a hospital and a home, the- 
ological school, woman's training school and our church, besides 
the residences of the missionaries. It is indeed a fine property. 

"Sunday, the 13th, was another good day. Love-feast and 
Communion were held in the morning. There were no painful 
pauses in the Love- feast; several were on their feet at once; now 
we had a testimony in Hindustani, then one in Anglo-Saxon; now 
a converted Jew, a preacher of the Christ of Nazareth spoke, then 
a Gentile convert ; now the missionaries, then those they had led 
to Jesus. Bishop Thoburn preached in Hindustani and ordained 
elders. Bishop Walden preached in English and Bishop Thoburn 
ordained deacons. We have visited one of our city Sunday 
schools. Oh, such poverty, ignorance and filth! This is only one 
of ten that are held every Sunday. The collection was taken and 
all the children had to give was shells and it takes eighty of these 
to make a piece which is equal to one cent, but it is all they have 
to give. Five of the little girls in this school, none of them more 
than ten years of age, are already betrothed." 



CHAPTER XXI 

IN THE MOUNTAINS OF INDIA 

"Tuesday, the 14th, we came to Naini Tal. How did we make 
the trip? Seventy miles by train, then up the mountain twelve 
miles by tonga. This is a two wheeled covered vehicle which car- 
ried four people sitting back to back, one of the four being the 
driver. It is drawn by two horses that gallop most of the way. We 
changed horses four times, then we went three miles up the steep 
by dandi, which is a long and narrow chair almost in the shape of 
a boat, and is carried by poles on men's shoulders, two men behind 
and two in front with another to relieve these men. They only earn 
one anna a mile, and an anna is a sixteenth part of a rupee and a 
rupee is worth now only about thirty cents. The height to which 
we have come is 5,000 feet above sea level, and is a most enchant- 
ing spot. On each side of the mountain, there is a most lovely 
view. The residences are built on the sides of the mountain, tier 
above tier, clear to the top. The lake lies in the bosom of the 
mountain or rather, at its feet, so calm, so deep, so placid. There 
are cement roads all around the lake. 

"Our Wellesley school here consists of three fine buildings with 
a large staff of teachers. The school ranks high with the govern- 
ment and is in a measure under its control and while it maintains 
its high standard, it receives one hundred dollars a month from the 
government. It is entirely self-supporting and has erected its build- 
ings out of its proceeds. The climate here is delightful, bracing in 
the winter, and now is as clear as a bell. Occasionally they have 
snow storms, but never suffer with the heat here, as they do in the 
plains. It is the summer resort for all who can afford to come, but 
living is very high because it is so far from the markets. 

"January 16. We have had a five hours' outing today ascend- 
ing the mountains another 1,500 feet, where we could gaze on the 



130 Mary Clarke Nind 

eternal snow capped Himalayas. It was a grand sight and all the 
wondrous landscape around and below us. Surely this is one of 
the grand spots of earth. 

"Friday, the 17th, we left Naini Tal in a dandi. The scenery 
along the way was beautiful. We came through some of the nicest, 
grandest woods I have ever seen. Arriving at the station, we 
washed, spread our lunch on the table, and 'satisfied our mouth 
with good things.' We reached Bareilly in the evening, packed 
up our belongings and at four o'clock the next morning took the 
train for Budaon, arriving at Aonla where we took a bum-bum, 
which is very much like our English dog-cart, and rode a short 
distance to the native village where we were met by the pastor who 
had been reared in our boys' school. His wife is one of our Mo- 
radabad girls. They took us to their neat parsonage where we 
had a light breakfast, after which we had a meeting with fifty 
Christians, some of whom had come quite a way to hear the Word.' 
What a rebuke many of these native Christians are to our home 
Christians. My soul was greatly blessed here as I saw these 
fathers and mothers sitting on the mud floor with babies in their 
arms, they were so attentive to the Word.' They had their native 
Christian band in honor of my coming, and played and sang the 
native bajahns. Going on sixteen miles over good English roads, 
we reached our girls' boarding school. In the afternoon we went 
to another meeting in one of the mohullas. Seated on the mud floor 
were seventy men, women and children to whom I spoke the Word 
and with song and prayer the service ended. I enjoy these simple 
chapels and these devout hearers. Of course, I went to rest weary 
but so happy and rose Sunday morning to talk to the Sunday-school. 
In the afternoon I preached to the Hindustani congregation of over 
two hundred and then visited the boys' school while they were get- 
ting their supper. I was very glad to meet Louisa Mary Nind 
whom I have been supporting for several years. She is a nice, 
tall, good-looking Christian girl. She was dressed in a pretty 
maroon cashmere dress, trimmed with black, and such a pretty 
white chuddar. She is now a teacher in this school. I hear that 



In the Mountains of India 131 

Agnes Williams Nind was one of our best girls here and is now a 
happy wife and a successful Bible-reader. These are investments 
that pay the hundredfold. I have visited with our Bible-reader 
two zenanas and two day-schools and have delivered a message to 
about a hundred people, some of whom were very eager listeners. 
There were some Mohammedans and some Hindoos, all needing 
Jesus. 

"January 30. Since writing you last I have left Budaon and 
visited Moradabad, the school where Mrs. Parker for 20 years 
did such good work and from which school so many converted 
girls have gone out as teachers, preachers' wives and Bible-readers. 
It was my privilege to distribute some presents which came in a 
missionary box, giving one to each of the 140 girls, to see their 
glad faces and say a few words to them, then to visit the classes, 
dormitories, and other buildings. I have also been to a mohulla 
day school, where the children are taught out of doors, sitting on 
the ground; the teacher is one of our converted women. I wish I 
could have had a picture of the scene. In the background, under the 
shade of one of the majestic trees were a group of women, some of 
them with babies in their arms, busy with their spinning. The wheels 
of the spinning machine were of the most primitive type and yet, as 
these women spun, they were listening to the message we delivered 
them and to the instruction given to the children on the life of 
Christ. Many were toilers, weary toilers, of the chamar caste, 
which is one caste above the sweepers. They are a very industrious 
people but hitherto the gospel has not had much power among them. 
Schools are being opened and evangelistic work is being done and 
thus the children are learning of Jesus, the Saviour of sinners. 
After this we went to the weekly prayer meeting, held in our Hin- 
dustani chapel, where 250 pupils and teachers were gathered from 
our boys' and girls' schools. The interpreter to my address was 
a fine looking Hindoo, one of the masters in the boys' school. He 
was once a sweeper, but is now an educated, scholarly Christian. 
What grace does in transforming these people ! From Moradabad 
we went to Meirut, the seat of the Northwest India Conference, 



132 Mary Clarke Nind 

i 88 miles from Moradabad. Meirut is the headquarters of a di- 
fjCt vision of the army — native and British artillery and infantry. The 

Church of England has a church building capable of holding 3,000 
people. It was in this church while the soldiers were in service, 
unarmed, that the great mutiny of 1857 commenced and now all 
the soldiers go to church with guns in hand. 

"The Conference was a delightful session. This is its second 
session and reports show that it has been a glorious year with 
increase all along the lines. Here I met Charles Luke, who mar- 
ried Mary C. Nind, the first girl I supported in Barielly. She was 
converted there, became a teacher, then for three years was his de- 
voted helpmeet and with holy triumph passed away, leaving him a 
son who is an editor. His second wife and two daughters, all earn- 
est workers, came to see me. He is a fine looking man and a pre- 
siding elder. He had on his district the past year over 2,000 con- 
versions and has ninety-three places on his district where daily 
prayer-meetings are held. He is a most successful man and speaks 
very good English, and so the money we are putting into this 
blessed work is yielding heavy dividends in the salvation of this 
people and in glorifying God. 

"One day we went to a large village, nine miles distant. On ar- 
rival the people came out from their homes and as soon as we had 
chosen our place, men, women and children came, bringing their 
bedsteads on which we who had come as spectators sat, and all be- 
gan to sing, then the crowds gathered, surrounding us. Some were 
only half clad, many were very dirty, unwashed, and unkempt. 
When they were a little quiet, Caroline, our old faithful Bible- 
reader, preached with great power. Some men opposed, disputed, 
questioned, but she preached on and then sang. I suppose a hun- 
dred or more gathered while the preaching was going on. The 
women with chuddars drawn over their faces, crowded the house 
tops to see and listen. It was a deeply interesting sight. The 
women wanted that we should come into their houses, but the head 
man objected and we moved on, the crowd following, and again, 
in another part of the village, the gospel was preached and sung. 



In the Mountains of India 133 

We were there about two hours. On the way to our vehicles, un- 
der the shade of a great tree, again the crowd assembled and song 
and preaching was heard. Oh, these multitudes who need to be 
gospeled and saved! I can understand as never before, the read- 
ing of that passage, 'When Jesus saw the multitude, he was moved 
with compassion upon them because they fainted and were as sheep 
scattered abroad having no shepherd.' 

"Muttra. From the Mohammedan city Aligarh to the Hindoo 
city Muttra, with its population of 60,000, we came February 10. 
We had five days at Aligarh, where the Louise Soule school and 
chapel are. It is a beautiful compound of 11 acres, with fruit 
trees which in time will bear much fruit. The school building has 
eight class rooms, the central room being used for a chapel. In the 
tower is the Memorial Bell. It awoke me from my peaceful slum- 
bers on Sunday morning, soon after six o'clock, calling me to Sun- 
day school. The girls' dormitories are very clean and nice. We 
have a school of forty very nice and very fine looking girls. It was 
my privilege to meet the girls in their Junior Epworth League and 
to preach the gospel to the Sunday congregation. A great mela was 
being held to which thousands of people came, some to sell, others 
to buy the various productions of the country. Cook's circus was 
here and we had an exhibition of the heathenism, first by a circus. 

"This Mohammedan city has a college of 700 students with 
English and native professors. The college was built by the con- 
tributions of the people all over the empire and the aid of the gov- 
ernment. We went into some of the students' rooms which are 
very much like our own college boys' rooms. 

"The scenes and acts at the temples I cannot here narrate for 
some of them are too dreadful to put on paper. Say what you will, 
heathenism, whether Mohammedanism or Hinduism, is a vile, filthy 
thing, and I understand better than before why God has pronounced 
such fearful curses upon it. Brother Lawson and some of the na- 
tive preachers were on the fair grounds, lifting up Jesus Christ, the 
only Saviour and had many attentive hearers. In Aligarh we have 
men and women being trained for future usefulness. 



134 Mary Clarke Nind 

"Muttra is the place where Brother Blackstone opened the work. 
Here we have a Memorial Home built by him for his father and 
mother, the Home of the Deaconnesses, and a Memorial Hall 
erected by Mrs. Philander Smith, and another in the city erected 
to Flora, Brother Blackstone's now glorified daughter. Here we 
have a girls' school, women and girls being trained for native and 
English work. One hundred zenanas are visited and there is work 
in the mohullas and preaching in the heart of the city. This is a 
very stronghold of Hinduism, though there are about 10,000 Mo- 
hammedans here. How depressing are the sounds and scenes of 
these great heathen cities. I get so heartsick as I behold them that 
I do not wonder that the missionaries become oppressed with the 
load and depressed as they are often led to feel what are we among 
so many — who is sufficient for these things ! Our sufficiency is of 
God. The time is coming when the idols will be utterly abolished 
and cast away and when our Jesus, the world's Redeemer will reign 
from shore to shore and from the rivers to the ends of the earth. 
May the Lord help us to hasten the day. 

"February 13. I have been into one of the high caste zenanas. 
The husband of the nineteen-year-old wife is very wealthy. She 
was elaborately attired. Her bare feet were loaded with anklet 
and heellet and toe rings of solid silver. In her ears, around her 
neck and waist, there were many jewels and yet she had not on 
all that she often wears. Her chuddar was of rose pink silk, 
trimmed with gold border and bespangled with stars. She seems to 
be an earnest enquirer after the truth, for she does not worship 
her idols now. The mother-in-law, a nice, generous looking woman 
of forty, also listened attentively to what I said through the inter- 
preter. An old priestess was there and seemed to greatly enjoy our 
visit. The next zenana we visited was of a lower caste. There 
were a number of women, some of whom seemed much interested. 
The cook in the family, a boy in his teens, is a Brahmin and is also 
the family priest and rules the zenana. In the evening I gave 
a Bible reading to the missionaries and workers. 

"On the 17th day of February I went to Brindaban, the great 



In the Mountains of India 135 

Hindoo center and have seen the most splendid temple in process 
of erection I have yet seen. It is the gift of the Rajah of Jeypore. 
It will cost millions of dollars when completed. It has a cathedral 
style of architecture. Its floors are of inlaid marble, its galleries of 
white marble, its pillars, windows and arches are elaborately carved. 
It gods are decked with jewels and precious stones. Other gods 
are now being made to put into the various niches all around the 
spacious court where are houses for the priests and the wretched 
widows who are kept there for them. There are 8,000 of these 
poor slaves of sin and these priests are the leaders of these poor, 
deluded people. Krishna, the vilest god of India, is the deity for 
whom this and other temples here are erected and where the mil- 
lions worship. Now is the Holy Festival. It is said that when a 
large company of women went down to bathe and left their gar- 
ments on the river bank Krishna went up to a large shady tree 
near the river, had all the clothes brought to him and then sent the 
women word that they could have their clothes from him when 
they had rendered him service. Thus was this feast originated and 
is kept in honor of him and all through the days of the feast the 
women are subject to the worst indignities. The priests and people 
revel in vice, women on the streets have vile and indecent things 
said to them and the men carry colored paint which they throw on 
the women. Oh, heathenism is a vile, a filthy thing! Its gor- 
geous temples, its thousands and millions of priests, its numberless 
idols, cannot disguise its uncleanness. Brindaban and Benares, the 
so-called Holy Cities, are the most defiled and loathsome of any 
cities in India, and squalor and wretchedness abound. I do not 
wonder that God in his word utters such fearful curses on idolatry. 
Here, too, there is a monkey god; for monkeys, bulls and turtles 
are worshiped and in that gorgeous temple are many monkey idols 
and while we are not allowed to tread the floor without removing 
our shoes, the filthy monkeys go in and out unmolested. But the 
promises of God never fail and He has said, 'The idols will I utterly; 
abolish and as I live, saith the Lord, all the earth shall be filled with 



136 Mary Clarke Nind 

my glory,' and these temples will yet re-echo with the praises of 
our Redeemer. 

"Sunday I preached twice to the British soldiers and held two 
other meetings with them. In the afternoon, I went to the hall, 
erected by Mrs. Adaline Smith in memory of Flora Blackstone. It 
is a very large building, next to a Hindo temple. There are rooms 
for recitations where our day and Sunday schools meet, a reading 
room, office for the presiding elder, a 'go down' where tents and 
other things are kept, a bookstore where we sell the Scriptures, a 
fine bell in the tower with the last promise of God's word on it. 
All this is the gift of Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Blackstone. A good 
picture of Flora adorns the wall, a good organ and a good choir 
of Christian boys send out music and so we are planning in the 
very heart of this heathen city to take it for Christ. 

"February 24. After mailing your letter at Agra I delivered a 
temperance address and then took train for Ajmere. We broke 
our ride by stopping at Jeypore, a city under native rule. In the 
morning we visited the geological gardens, museum, Prince of 
Wales Hall, School of Arts and Indian curiosities. Ajmere is a 
new mission. We have a fine compound here of 1 1 j4 acres, a home, 
girls' and boys' schools, both small at present but in the center of 
the district and will be larger by and by. I have been doing here 
what I have to do in every place : look over the grounds, the 
buildings, make suggestions, express my opinions, see all the schol- 
ars, their schools and dormitories, take notes and write home. 

"March 3 and I am at Baroda. The work is new here but we 
have a girls' school and a boys' school and some very encouraging 
village work. Nearly 600 men have been baptized and now the 
women must be led to Christ or the men will backslide. 

"March 7. From Baroda we came to the busy city of Bombay 
after a night's ride, and from Bombay to Poonah. The ride from 
Bombay to Poonah is the most beautiful I have had in India over 
mountain steeps and through valley gorges. The Central Confer- 
ence has opened here with representatives from all parts of India. 
This Central Conference is very much like the General Conference 



In the Mountains of India 137 

of America, only that there are as many women delegates as men 
with equal rights and privileges. The harmony and love that per- 
vades this assembly is beautiful to behold and the devotional meet- 
ings, are times of great refreshing. 

"March 16. This is the anniversary of my wedding day. What 
a happy day it was when, forty-six years ago, I was united to one 
of the best of men! He is still mine though it has been nearly 
eleven years since he sat down to the marriage supper of the Lamb 
in the Kingdom above. I shall join him soon. What a happy meet- 
ing it will be — never more to be separated ! His army life and his 
traveling life and my life in the missionary army often separated 
us. In glory we shall go out no more forever. Glory to his name ! 
The papers announce the very sudden departure of the Treasurer of 
our General Missionary Society, Dr. Hunt. As he was crossing 
the threshold of the hotel in Cincinnati, he crossed the threshold 
of time into eternity. Ah, we know not how near the brink we are ! 
Oh, to be ready when the summons comes! Sudden death to the 
Christian is sudden glory." 



CHAPTER XXII 

HOMEWARD BOUND 

"March 26. This letter is commenced while passing through 
the Red Sea. We thank God there are no hosts after us, no Pha- 
raoh, with six hundred chariots of iron to take us back to bondage 
and to death, but we are calmly passing through the sea, though 
suffering with the heat and longing for the days when we shall 
strike a northerly latitude. Till then, we must remain day and 
night wet with perspiration and exhausted for want of ozone in the 
air. 

"Our steamer is very crowded. Most of the people are French 
with their volatile pleasures and fashions, their wine drinking, card 
playing and smoking habits, but we are a Christian party of twelve, 
sitting together at the same table and enjoying very much each 
other's society and fellowship. Thus far we have had no rough 
seas, no stormy winds, for which we are very grateful. We stopped 
ten hours at Aden, but did not go ashore because it was too hot to 
make the effort. At this place there are 40,000 inhabitants, mostly 
Arabs and Africans. A military post is stationed here. It is a 
treeless, verdureless, barren spot, not a spire nor a spear to be seen 
and all or nearly all their provisions are brought from India. We are 
beset all the day with the natives selling their wares, their chief 
commodities being ostrich feathers and eggs. The Arab diving 
boys were very amusing. It seemed as if they spent nearly all day 
in the water, diving for cash and singing their weird songs. 

"Aden is made sacred to us missionaries by the fact that near 
here our dear Florence Nickerson was buried, an«d when the sea 
gives up the dead that is in it she will be among the number who 
loved not her life even unto the death. India, China, Japan, Africa, 
South America and the sea are made sacred by the death of our 
dear missionaries. Beyrout holds the dust of our beloved Bishop 



140 Mary Clarke Nind 

Kingsley, Foochow that of Bishop Wiley and Berlin that of our 
dear Sister Davis. From all these resting places these saints of 
God who have put off mortality will rise to immortality, to put on 
a body of light unto the glorious body of our ascended and glori- 
fied Lord. Blessed assurance, Sve shall be like Him for we shall 
see Him as He is.' May we be conformed to the image of the Son 
of God here by His transforming grace, then we shall be trans- 
formed by and by into glory. 

"March 29. Nearing Suez. We have the mountains of Arabia 
on the one side and those of Africa on the other. The air is cooler ; 
the sea has been so calm that we can hardly realize we are on the 
sea. Already I feel the exhaustion of body and nerve giving place 
to a more healthy tone, but I am sure I am not strong enough to 
take the trip to Palestine, so I cheerfully give it up to preserve life 
and health. 

"We have reached Suez and are now passing through the won- 
derful De Lessep's Canal. The city of Suez contains about 20,000 
inhabitants. Along the shore are the very nice European resi- 
dences, taking us in thought to England. A number of steamers 
are in port. The native city rises back of the European. The time 
of our stay here is so brief that no one is allowed to go ashore. 
Egyptians came on board selling their wares. They dress in long 
flowing garments with turbans on their heads, something like the 
people in India. The canal is wide enough for two vessels to pass 
if one ties up but it causes much delay. We passed the canal 
safely. Our steamer had to pay $6,000 toll. 

"Good Friday. We now are in the straits of Messina, off Sicily, 
and have just passed the eruptive mountain, Stromboli. We are 
having a beautiful day, everything is astir with anticipation of 
closing up our voyage tomorrow night. We have had such a 
gracious voyage and each day I feel so much better. I have read 
and written but little, have rested, pitched quoits, walked, eaten and 
slept well most of the time, and have not lost a meal on the sea 
since I left home. Ought I not to be thankful? 

"April 5. We did Marseilles and Paris as well as we could in 



Homeward Bound 141 

three days and being in Paris during the Easter holidays it was 
the very best time to see the gay people. The fine equipages, the 
fine turn-outs and the crowded boulevards. We visited the cathe- 
drals, Notre Dame, the Tuilleries, the schools of art, the Triumphal 
Arch, the Tomb of Napoleon and went up into the Eifel Tower and 
saw Paris from its height." 



CHAPTER XXIII 

HOME AGAIN 

April io Mary Clarke Nind was once more at home in her na- 
tive land with her brothers and sisters, among the friends and 
scenes of her childhood. Here she spent four months most de- 
lightfully, recuperating in health, visiting the friends of former 
days and busy as ever for the Master. One day she writes : "Today 
I called to see Mrs. Anderson who was a girl in the missionary 
school when I was a girl and knew the girls who were my special 
favorites — Mary Moffitt, who afterwards became Mrs. David Liv- 
ingston, and her sister Helen, who still lives. I am sorry to say. 
she is not a teetotaler, for she offered me a glass of wine, which 
gave me an opportunity to exhort, which I promptly embraced." 
The next day she writes : "Brother Eb and I had a most enjoyable 
day at Bishop Stortford and Sawbridgeworth. We had the long 
looked for rain the night before and so the dust was laid and all 
nature looked glad, clad in its well washed dress. We went down 
to Grandpa Clarke's house which has been improved by a new coat 
of stucco and the window-sashes painted. We went inside and 
looked into the room where I have so often sat upon his knee and 
knelt at the family altar in my happy girlhood days. Then we 
went on to the chapel where the dear husband and his family at- 
tended and where he, when a little boy, perched upon a stool, sang 
in the choir. Then we went on to see his old governess. She is 82 
and her husband 85. Their garden is a bower of beauty and they 
are cheery, dear old people." 

June 6 she writes : "Brother Alfred gave me an outing to Hyde 
Park. The day was fine and the fine turnouts were many. You 
know my love for fine horses. It is as great as ever. We rode on 
the top of an omnibus and saw all there was to be seen from Liv- 
erpool street to the park. Then we visited the Indian Exhibition 



144 Mary Clarke Nind 

which covers several acres of ground. We saw representations of 
temples and mosques and a procession of Burmese, Hindoos, Singa- 
iese, Parsees, and it was a delight to me to see them once more. 
People rode on camels and elephants, in true Oriental style as well 
as in jinrikshas which awoke my love for Japan and brought back 
the fact that it is just two years since I landed in Yokohama and 
had my first jinriksha ride." 

And thus the days and weeks sped on, filled with enjoyment as 
well as in holding meetings for mothers, temperance meetings and 
evangelistic services until August came and Mrs. Nind began 
to feel that she must reach America, not only because she longed to 
see her dear ones here but because she felt that she ought to be 
home in time for the Branch meetings of the missionary society, al- 
though in one of her letters she said, "I am free to confess that 
were it not for my dear children and the Lord's work in America, 
I should want to remain in England as long as my sister lives." 
The steamer St. Louis, which brought her from Liverpool to New 
York had among its passengers China's great statesman, Li Hung 
Chang, and his retinue, so that, as she expressed it, "We still 
have a little of China till we reach America." 

It is a coincidence perhaps that mother reached her earthly 
home September 2, just nine years before she went to her 
heavenly home. These nine years were spent as had been many of 
the previous years of her life in work for the Woman's Foreign 
Missionary Society, visiting nearly all of the Branches and speak- 
ing in nearly every state, north of the Mason and Dixon line. Soon 
after her return to America, many of the Branches gave her special 
receptions with kind words of greeting and appreciation of the 
work done for the Society while on her trip around the world. One 
of these addresses of welcome given by Mrs. Winchell has been pre- 
served among her choicest keepsakes in a neat little booklet and 
we give it on the following page : 



Home Again 145 

WORDS OF WELCOME TO MRS. MARY C. NIND BY MRS. C. S. WINCHELL, AT A 

RECEPTION GIVEN BY THE METHODIST LADIES OF THE CITY OF 

MINNEAPOLIS, AT WESLEY. CHURCH, DECEMBER 7, 1896. 

As I look into the faces of these many friends and note the joy and 
gladness beaming there, I count it no slight token of your confidence that 
you have chosen me to voice your welcome to our honored guest today. 

Two and a half years ago, when she started on her journey around the 
world, a volume of prayer ascended from this Branch, as from hearts all 
over the land, to Him who ruleth wind and wave for her safe return. 

Our hearts are full of thanksgiving for the answer to these petitions and 
for the joy of meeting her face to face once more and now we are glad that 
she went; glad to know that all the way she was wondrously preserved and 
cared for and comes again with all her old-time strength and power. We 
are glad that she has been to the ' ' Land of the Rising Sun, ' ' to the old 
empire of China, to that wonderful island-city, Singapore, to Burma and 
to India. We are glad that she could go and visit these mission fields which 
she has so largely planted and rejoice in the harvests already gathered, but 
we are gladder still for the inspiration her presence gave to the missionaries 
themselves and for the blessings carried to scores and hundreds of the 
heathen to whom she broke the Bread of Life. We who knew her here are 
not surprised to learn that one well prepared to judge has said of her, "She 
has done more for our missions than any bishop ever sent to the Orient." 

Ever since she landed on our shores, you have been asking me when we 
could hope to see her here and you have been longing for this hour, but it is 
a long way from New York to Minneapolis and there are many large cities 
on the way, Eochester, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee; 
these all had heard of her coming and claimed her too, filling their largest 
churches to welcome her, while the hosts of women assembled in the Annual 
Meetings of the Great Northwestern and Des Moines Branches had pre- 
emption claims on her ere ever she crossed the Atlantic. So generous has 
been her response to these urgent calls that the last I knew she had not yet 
found time to unpack her trunk. Some of us who labored long with her 
are not surprised for we know full well how unremitting is her zeal for 
the advancement of Christ's Kingdom and that to her faith and works, the 
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, west of the Mississippi, owes its 
existence. And to one who has traveled over this immense territory, com- 
passing as many as 10,000 miles, in a single year by rail and river, by stage 
coach and the pioneer preacher's horse, on lumbering farm wagon, laying 
deep and broad the foundations of this society, a journey to the Orient 
even may have seemed a light undertaking. 

And it is meet that we welcome her to this Church towards whose up- 



146 Mary Clarke Nind 

building she contributed much. To this city, her residence for many years, 
and endeared to her by many tender associations, to this state whose Metho- 
dists once chose her as their representative to the General Conference, to 
this Minneapolis branch, which she founded, to which she gave so many 
years of glorious service and which will never cease to claim her as its 
very own. 

We bring no wreath of laurel and of bay as they of old were wont to 
crown the victor returning from earth's bloody battle fields, but we bring 
the love and devotion of hearts loyal and true, of lives that have been en- 
riched and broadened by her influence, today, to our beloved and honored 
leader — Mary C. Nind. 

In 1900, when 75 years of age, mother attended the Ecumenical 
Conference in New York and the General Conference of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church in Chicago. Someone remarking upon her 
activity and energy at this advanced age, asked how it felt to be 
75. A few days later she read an article in the Midland Christian 
Advocate on "How it Feels to Be Seventy," and for that paper she 
wrote the following: 

HOW IT FEELS TO BE SEVENTY-FIVE. 

How do I feel? First of all, I am grateful to God that seventy years 
of this time I have been a Christian, that I had Christian parents who sought 
by holy living, prayer, instruction and faith the early conversion of their six 
children. Two have entered through the gates into the City, one a few 
months ago at the ripe age of seventy-nine, the other remaining, bringing 
forth fruit in old age, one having passed her eighty-first year. 

I praise God for an experience of His saving power, in childhood, young 
womanhood, wifehood, motherhood, widowhood, in sickness and health, sor- 
row and joy, prosperity and adversity, bereavement and achievement, in 
times of felt security, and in hours of peril, storms at sea, railroad acci- 
dents, earthquake and disease that seem to bring death and eternity very near. 

I praise Him for the faithful pastors I have had from my childhood to 
the present. Here it is only fitting that I mention my Minnesota pastors — 
Hevs. Kichardson, McKinley, Hobart, Brookes, Crook, Cranston, Gilbert, Cobbe, 
Wagner, Van Anda — blessed heralds of the cross, some of them crowned, 
while many stars deck their crowns. 

I praise Him for a little share in the work of the world's redemption. 
Conscious of all the failings and imperfections which have marred the work, 
for which I am penitent. He knows, He pities and forgives. But for the 
privilege of service I bless Him, yes, I adore Him that over these United 
States and round the world He has permitted me to be His glad message- 



Home Again 147 

bearer and to run on errands for my Master. I praise Him for the children 
who are preaching, teaching and living this gospel here, in China and in 
Africa; for prolonged life and a fair share of health and vigor. How 
many of my fellow pilgrims, who started on the journey about the time I 
did, have gone on to join the triumphant throng? I turn to my diary for 
1901 — seven weeks of the new century have expired, and I find seven of my 
dear friends have left my side, among them Bishop Wm. Ninde, Dr. Henry 
Foster of Uifton Springs, Dr. Stalker of California and Dr. Fisk of Albion. 
Sometimes a feeling of loneliness comes over me as one by one these fellow 
travelers drop out of the ranks. They will be on hand to welcome us when 
we reach the blessed shore. How do I feel as the shadows lengthen? That 
I must work while it is called today. Not the same kind of work, however. 
No more long, wearisome journeys in lumber wagons, over trackless prairies; 
no more nights in log cabins, dugouts, sod houses; no more nights spent in 
depots waiting for connections; no more laying the foundations in territories 
new; no more trips around the world; but while physical and mental vigor is 
granted, busy with lip, pen, prayer and purse, embracing opportunities of 
usefulness and urging the younger, stronger, abler soldiers to fidelity in 
the service of the Captain of their Salvation. They must increase, we must 
decrease. Let us old people rejoice that we have been permitted to labor 
so long and that others are being trained for more efficient service. 

And thus were spent the last five years of her life. In some 
respects these were trying years and yet through them all, there was 
a constant growth in grace, a deeper dependence upon the Master, 
a drawing even still nearer to Him, a ripening for eternity. Dearer 
and dearer became the Word of the Lord to her; more frequently 
were His promises quoted in her diaries. Over and over again, 
we find the text, "In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall 
direct thy paths," and often after having written this text, she 
wrote, "Blessed promise, I have tested it and proved it true and 
shall again." At another time she wrote, "The Lord is trying my 
faith in many ways but I will trust and not be afraid." 

At the close of the year 1901 she wrote: "This year has 
been a blessed one in Christian experience and delightful in the 
work for the Master. The study of the Word has been blessed but 
it must be studied more next year. I enter upon this year with a 
holy purpose to be more Christ-like and have more of the abiding 
of the Holy Spirit, guiding, inspiring, enduring." 



148 Mary Clarke Nind 

A favorite expression during these latter years when per- 
plexities and difficulties came, was "Now, Lord, steer me through 
the breakers," another "Lord keep me patient." When business 
perplexities came, she often said, "I am looking to the Lord who is 
my partner and in whose hands are all my interests for time and 
eternity ; for Him and with Him I do all my business." Frequently, 
during these latter years, she was obliged to stay at home from 
the services of God's house on account of the inclemency of the 
weather and often called herself "a prisoner of hope." One day 
when she had been shut in for several days, she wrote in her diary : 
"I am still at home but I say with the Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, 
'The weather tomorrow will be what suits me, for what suits God 
suits me always.' " One time when burdened and oppressed she 
writes, "My heart is sad but I will believe while I sing, 

"His love in time past forbids me to think 

That He '11 leave me at last in trouble to sink. 

Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review 

Confirms His good pleasure to help me quite through. ' ' 

We find written on the fly-leaf of one of her later diaries : 

MY PRAYER. 

"0, lead me, Lord, that I may lead 

The wandering and the wavering feet; 
O, feed me, Lord, that I may feed 

Thy hungering ones with manna sweet. 

"O, strengthen me, that while standing 

Firm on the Rock, and strong in Thee, 
I may stretch out a loving hand 

To wrestle with a troubled sea. ' ' 

Upon leaving Detroit for almost the last time, after having at- 
tended the prayer meeting of her home church, she wrote in her 
diary: "When shall I meet again with this dear people? Dear 
Lord, Thou knowest. Till I meet them again, hold me, keep me, 
cleanse me, fill me, speak through me, give me glorious victory. 
Amen!" 



CHAPTER XXIV 

HER EIGHTIETH SUMMER 

In the spring of 1905, the youngest son of Mrs. Nind, Rev. 
Geo. B. Nind, returned unexpectedly from the missionary field in 
which he had been working — the Madeira Islands. The prepara- 
tion of a hymnal in the Portuguese language was the task set for 
him, and his stay in America it was believed would be brief, and 
the length of the stay at best was exceedingly uncertain. Mother 
had spent the summer of 1904 at one of the resorts on Traverse 
Bay, in Michigan, but during that period had kept up her always 
voluminous correspondence and had accepted an invitation to speak 
at a banquet to be given the ladies of the society who were to 
gather in Battle Creek. The preparation of this and other addresses 
occupied much of her time and thought during her summer "out- 
ing." But on her return to Detroit her physical condition was such 
as to cause her children much apprehension. All engagements were 
cancelled and as she had done on some previous occasions she went 
at once to the sanitarium of Dr. Green, at Castile, N. Y. Here 
her recovery was rapid, and the writer of these lines, to his 
joy and surprise, found her on Thanksgiving day much the most 
active and the cheeriest of the patients at the institution. There 
was a special entertainment at the sanitarium on Thanksgiving 
evening in which she participated with girlish zest, and was 
more agile than many others present twenty and thirty years 
her junior. Her various visits to this and other sanitariums had 
made her an enthusiastic believer in physical exercise, and for many 
years she had as religiously devoted a period each day to light calis- 
thenics as to her Bible reading and periods of prayer. She was 
equally regular about her hours of sleep, and for many years had 
maintained what might have been called a sleep balance sheet. If 
her public duties kept her up beyond her accustomed time for sleep- 



150 Mary Clarke Nind 

ing, if during her travels she lost sleep, it was somehow always 
made up. She was equally regular in other things, and always in- 
sisted on a simple diet. Her physicians declared that she was a 
model patient, and the regimen of the sanitariums she followed to 
the letter. 

Soon after Thanksgiving day, 1904, she was "graduated" as 
she was wont to say, from the sanitarium at Castile, and after visit- 
ing some of her friends in Buffalo and elsewhere went to Delaware, 
Ohio, where three of her grandsons, the sons of Rev. and Mrs. W. 
H. Lacy, were students in the Ohio Wesleyan college. Her physi- 
cian had warned her not to undertake many public duties and so 
she undertook to "mother" her grandsons, finding, too, a joy in the 
religious atmosphere of the place, and a delight in the companion- 
ship of many missionaries and the children of missionaries. 

The arrangements for the summer of 1905 were left largely to 
her son, Rev. George B. Nind. For five and a half years his adopted 
daughter had had a home with Mrs. Wm. Millard at Littleton Com- 
mon, Mass. A visit there by mother was planned for the early part 
of May, but just then sickness in Mrs. Millard's family made a 
postponement of the visit necessary. A missionary convention, pro- 
moted by the Open Door Emergency Commission of the Mission- 
ary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was to be held in 
Trinity Church, Worcester, Mass., May 23-26. Leaving Delaware, 
Ohio, she filled a missionary engagement in Pittsburg, Pa., and the 
following Sabbath rested in Philadelphia at the home of Bishop 
Foss. The next day she went on to Worcester, where her son 
George arrived the day following. They were entertained in the 
home of Mrs. John Legg, president of the New England Branch 
of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, in which home upon 
other occasions mother had been a guest. Among other guests in 
that hospitable home at this time were Mrs. William Butler and 
Miss Butler, and about the table during the days of the convention 
sat other delegates, some of whom mother had met on the for- 
eign field, while another was a new outgoing missionary. 

Some of the best parts of the convention were at the evening 



MARY C. NIND and REV. GEORGE B. NIND 



This picture was taken at Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 30, 1905. and is the last picture -which was 
taken of "Mother" Nind. It was taken three months hefore her death 



Her Eightieth Summer 151 

sessions; but mother held to her physician's orders not to attend 
evening meetings. When some one would remark what a pity that 
she was to lose some special features of the convention she would 
hush further inducements that might be presented by happily re- 
plying that she was now "Mary C. Nind, Limited." 

Mother and son were persuaded to tarry at Mrs. Legg's a few 
days after the convention closed. On Memorial Day, May 30, they 
went into Boston. Most of the day was spent with Mr. Henry S. 
Ninde, a brother of Bishop Wm. X. Ninde, at his son George's in 
Cambridge. It was there that afternoon in the back yard that one 
of the members of the family took some photographs, among them 
one which shows mother in a characteristic playfulness when re- 
proving her son for some of his shortcomings. 

The next day while the guest of her friend Mrs. Richards in 
Somerville, she attended the regular monthly meeting of the Wom- 
an's Foreign Missionary Society auxiliary of First Church, and took 
some part in it. The day following she returned to Worcester, and 
the next morning started for Clifton Springs, N. Y., stopping on 
the way at Rome, N. Y., to spend a few hours with the family of 
Henry S. Ninde. George Nind remained in Boston to meet his 
brother-in-law, Rev. Justus H. Nelson, who was coming from Para, 
Brazil, and to be present at the graduation from the College of 
Liberal Arts and Sciences of Boston University of Mr. Nelson's two 
sons. 

The sessions of the International Missionary Union opened at 
Clifton Springs on the evening of June 7. George Nind arrived 
from Boston on the morning of June 8, and Miss Louisa M. Nind 
from Detroit the following morning. Mother enjoyed having these 
two children with her, and looked forward with joyful anticipation 
to the return from China of her other missionary children, when 
it would be possible to have a reunion of all her children and grand- 
children. 

She led some of the devotions of the Missionary Union, but 
otherwise she was only an intensely interested listener, taking notes 
for use in future missionary addresses. 



152 Mary Clarke Nind 

On the 14th, together with her daughter and her son she went 
to Syracuse to attend Commencement, the graduate in whom they 
had special interest being Henry S. Ninde's son, Ward. The exer- 
cises over the rest of the day was spent in the company of Henry 
S. Ninde, and those of his family who were in Syracuse to attend 
Commencement. The next morning in the railroad station 
when Miss Nind was starting back to Detroit, when mother 
and daughter were bidding each other good-bye, how little 
they thought that they should not meet again on earth! A 
few minutes afterward mother and son were speeding eastward. 
At Springfield, Mass., they were joined by George Nind's daughter 
Lydia, who had come from Brockton, where for a year and a half 
she had been truly mothered by Mrs. Henry F. Hoxie. In the early 
evening the party reached Florence, a town incorporated in the 
city of Northampton. Mother had accepted an invitation to speak 
at the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, Springfield District 
Quarterly Meeting, which was held there the next day. The day 
after that, Saturday, June 17, the journey was continued to Moun- 
tain Rest. From Florence it was reached by half an hour's trolley 
ride to Williamsburg, and seven miles' ride in a carriage. With in- 
creasing heat, the journey and efforts of the week had been weary- 
ing and when Sunday came, with the excessive heat which was gen- 
eral all over the country, mother was almost prostrate. The heat 
subsided and in a few days she was rested and refreshed. Mountain 
Rest she found an ideal place. The scenery is entrancing, the air 
pure and invigorating, the temperature several degrees lower than 
in the neighboring cities. The guests, all missionaries or of mis- 
sionary families, were most congenial. There were no formalities 
and no social obligations with neighbors or summer people. There 
were no intrusions. Daily family worship, a meeting Sunday after- 
noon in which some mission field, or some phase of missionary work 
was represented, and a midweek Bible reading and prayer meeting 
were the only set religious exercises. Mother was not personally 
known to any of the people at Mountain Rest when she arrived 
there and but slightly known by reputation. When her son was 



Her Eightieth Summer 153 

asked for the second time to conduct family worship, having no- 
ticed that up to that time none of the ladies had been called upon, 
he delegated his opportunity to his mother, knowing full well her 
gift in prayer, and realizing the uplift it would be to the whole com- 
pany to be led in prayer by her. Her spiritual power was at once 
recognized. After that she was given her regular turn at family 
worship as well as a place in the meetings. Her worth as a spiritual 
leader, her wide experience and large acquaintance with missionary 
matters made her presence a real benediction, and by her good cheer, 
her bright sayings, and loving nature she soon won the hearts of 
all the company. 

The Fourth of July came. A picnic had been planned for the 
guests at Mountain Rest and two families which for three years 
had joined the Mountain Rest people in a picnic on the Fourth of 
July. Mother thought Mountain Rest was quite good enough 
a place to spend the Fourth. Was it not better than any picnic 
ground? Why go picnicing from Mountain Rest? Even if the 
others went, she would prefer to spend the day quietly at Mountain 
Rest. Her judgment told her it would be better for her. But she 
had become such a favorite, everybody wanted her to go to the pic- 
nic. They were sure she would enjoy it. So solely to please those 
who urged her to go she consented. 

On the Fourth of July morning, early, she went into her son's 
room and said : "George, the muses have visited me during the 
night;" to which he replied: "And what did they say?" Then she 
read him some verses she had written that morning. They were 
about the Fourth of July at Mountain Rest, and could be sung to the 
tune "Beulah Land," the chorus being : 

0, Mountain Eest! 0, lovely spot! 
Thy quiet ne'er shall be forgot. 
We'll picnic by the placid lake, 
Where we may sweet refreshment take. 
O, Mountain Eest! 0, lovely spot! 
Thy quiet ne'er shall be forgot. 

This song with its three verses and chorus was sung at the pic- 



154 Mary Clarke Nind 

nic. Mother enjoyed the picnic, but the long ride in a crowded 
buggy, and the long day without her usual nap, told upon her, and 
the next day, from the weak action of the heart she nearly fainted 
away. The following morning she woke up with a feeling of ex* 
treme exhaustion, and found she had lost the use of her right hand 
and forearm. She feared it was paralysis, but the doctor said it 
was from impeded circulation, due to her having laid long on that 
arm when the heart's action was weak through weariness. With 
good treatment in about two weeks she had regained the perfect 
use of that hand and arm, and thereafter she enjoyed the best of 
health and spirits to the end. Every morning before breakfast she 
might have been seen out on the porch of Judson cottage going 
through the gymnastics she had practiced ever since her first stay 
at Castile Sanitarium fifteen years previous. The mornings in 
August were often quite cool, and one of the missionary ladies from 
India would come down to breakfast with wraps and a blue nose 
and talk of wanting to get back to that warmer clime. Mother would 
tell her to take a round of gymnastics before breakfast to get up 
her circulation; that if she would do that she would come to break- 
fast all in a glow. 

For many years mother had done her devotional Bible reading 
after breakfast, and in connection with it she had been singing the 
Methodist Hymnal through. While at Mountain Rest she was 
singing it through the fourth time. Four hymns a day was her 
practice. It was beautiful to hear her voice, remarkably clear and 
strong for a woman of her age, as through open windows it rang 
out on the summer air. 

With social intercourse a little recreation on the lawn, her large 
correspondence, and her reading the summer passed quickly away. 
One day after she had been recounting some of her experiences in 
organizing the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society in the west, 
the prejudices, the opposition, the hardships and the victories, her 
son said to her : "Mother, you ought to write an autobiography, and 
put into it a lot of just such incidents as you have been telling us. 
The younger women of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society 



Her Eightieth Summer 155 

who know it only as a well developed and honored society in the 
church have no idea of what you went through in helping to make 
the society what it is today." To this she replied : "Lots of people 
have told me the same thing, but I have never seemed to find just 
the opportunity. I believe I ought to do it the coming winter." 
Having to be sparing of her eyes she knew she would need the help 
of an amanuensis, so she talked over possible ones available with 
suitable qualifications, and at once she entered into correspondence 
with that in view. 

The pastor of the Congregational church at Goshen proposed a 
women's missionary meeting to be addressed by some of the Moun- 
tain Rest ladies and that mother should be one of the speakers was 
the concensus of all the other ladies. The pastor made a number of 
propositions about the time of holding the meeting; among them, 
Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening, a week day afternoon, and a 
week day evening. None of them really suited the ladies, as local 
conditions were not favorable to a really good audience except Sun- 
day morning. They asked for Sunday morning. The pastor de- 
murred. Seeing that he was particular about holding strictly to 
the regular character of the Sunday morning service, some of the 
ladies were disposed to consider which of the other times proposed 
would be the best. Mother, believing that the theme and the 
speakers were worthy of the best possible hearing encouraged the 
ladies to insist upon having the Sunday morning service or none. 
The matter was pending some days. One morning at the break- 
fast table, when the subject was under discussion, she said that her 
decision was made : she should speak Sunday morning or not at 
all. It was not long before the word came that a Sunday morning 
service would be given up to the ladies. 

Sunday morning, August 2j, found a large audience in the 
Goshen church. The pastor conducted the usual preliminary part 
of the service, announcing the hymns and reading the Scripture 
selected by the ladies. The addresses of the ladies took the place 
of the sermon. The first speaker was Miss Susan Howland, for 
many years a missionary teacher in Ceylon. She told of the work 



156 Mary Clarke Nind 

among women and girls in that country. She was followed by Miss 
Lucy M. Green, born in Ceylon, the daughter of the noted mission- 
ary of the American Board, Dr. Samuel F. Green. She spoke of 
the McAll Mission in France. Then mother gave a survey of 
world wide missions as she had seen them in many lands. After 
the service many were the expressions of the delight and profit 
it had afforded, and even the pastor seemed glad that he had given 
up to the ladies the place of his sermon. 




HOUSE OF MRS. MILLARD IN LITTLETON, MASS. 



Burned on the night of September 2, 1905 



CHAPTER XXV 

THE FINAL EVENTS OF A USEFUL LIFE 

The time had now come when mother must be leaving Moun- 
tain Rest. She had engagements in the west and some visits to 
make en route. Mrs. Emily Huntington Miller had urged her to 
make her a visit at Englewood, N. J., before she left the east alto- 
gether. Mr. George Nind and his daughter Lydia were to leave 
Mountain Rest the last of the month to spend about two weeks with 
Gretchen at Littleton Common. It seemed to mother that her best 
time to visit Mrs. Miller would be during those two weeks. So 
she wrote to Mrs. Miller to know if September i would suit her 
for the visit. Mrs. Miller regretfully replied that arrangements 
which could not well be altered had been made for other company 
at that time, but that by September 9 she would be ready to receive 
mother's visit. Upon receiving this reply mother said to her son 
that it was very clear that she ought to accompany him to Littleton 
Common, as had been his wish, and she confessed that she had 
not relished the thought of separation from him for even those two 
weeks, as he would shortly be leaving her altogether, and in all 
probability they would not have another opportunity of being to- 
gether on earth. 

An invitation had come to her to take part in the services 
of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society at the Springfield Dis- 
trict Camp-meeting at Laurel Park, Northampton. Feeling in fine 
shape for work this call to lend a hand to the sisters of her beloved 
society aften ten weeks of retirement within their borders, found in 
her a ready response. It could be taken on the way to Littleton 
Common. Leaving Mountain Rest on Wednesday, August 30, she 
was entertained in Florence. Thursday was Missionary Day at 
Laurel Park Camp-meeting, the public service of the morning being 
in charge of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. Mother 



158 Mary Clarke Nind 

conducted the devotions. Miss Mary F. Danforth gave the address. 
In the afternoon they had a meeting with the members of the 
society and other ladies especially interested. 

On Friday, September i, Mr. George and Lydia joined Mother 
Nind at Florence and the three proceeded to Littleton Common, 
where they arrived about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. It was 
mother's second visit in Mrs. Millard's pleasant home. From the 
parlor windows, which looked out to the west on the bisected tri- 
angular Common, there was a pleasant view. Mother was given 
a large room on the second floor, with two windows to the south, 
one to the east overlooking a grassy yard. Mr. George occupied 
a small room, entered through his mother's room. Lydia slept in 
Gretchen's room, the front hall bedroom. The bed being a single 
one, Gretchen went to a neighbor's to sleep. 

On Saturday morning, Mr. George decided to accept an urgent 
call which had come to him to be present and take part in the Por- 
tuguese Evangelical Congress which was to open that evening at 
New Bedford. It would require his absence three days from Lit- 
tleton Common. His mother was sorry to have him away, but she 
believed it was his duty to go. She remarked, however, that if she 
had known he was to be away she would have accepted an invita- 
tion for Sunday services at Ware. 

Mother's heavy baggage had not been put on to the train 
by which she left Northampton. Until it came she could not do 
much at getting settled in her room. So she used a good part of 
Saturday morning writing letters. The recipients of what she 
wrote that morning have treasured what they received as almost 
the last words from her pen. 

At 10 o'clock Mrs. Millard, Gretchen and Lydia went to a 
Sunday-school picnic. Mrs. Millard's daughter, Miss Parker, 
remained at home to get the dinner for Mrs. Nind, her son and a 
young gentleman boarder. Dinner was at 12. After dinner Miss 
Parker also went to the picnic. This left Mother Nind, her son 
and Mrs. Knox, who occupied a back room on the second floor, the 
only persons in the house. Mother had decided to take her walk 



The Final Events of a Useful Life 159 

that day, accompanying her son part way to the train. They were 
to start at half-past 3, but finding her taking a nap her son let her, 
sleep until a quarter to 4. Leaving the house she took the latch 
key of the front door. After they had walked together a few 
blocks Mr. George, having to hurry on, kissed his mother "goodby" 
and she still walked on slowly in the same direction. Coming to a 
bend in the road Mr. George turned and took a last look; the last 
look at his mother for all time. 

Mother's last written words probably were those on a postal 
card which bears the Littleton Common postmark of 5 p. m., 
September 2, 1905. It is addressed: "Rev. George B. Nind, care 
of Pastor Sampson, New Bedford, Mass." It reads: 

Littleton Common, Mass., Saturday. 
My Dear Son: Arrived home after walking to the houses beyond the 
new ones; home at 4:25, just in time to receive the baggage, for which 
we praise the Lord. Watched you as far as you could be seen, then hoped 
the man who passed me with the buggy would take you in and relieve you 
of your burdens. Hope you will have a blessed good time and return in 
health. May the Great Head of the church be honored in the Congress. 
Mother, Maby C. Nind. 

The family got home from the picnic about the same time that 
mother got back to the house. All were disposed to retire early. 
Gretchen slept in her own room and Lydia in the room her father 
had occupied the night before. On her way up to her attic chamber 
Mrs. Millard stepped in mother's room, and while the latter 
was making her toilet they talked of the doings of the day and the 
plans for the coming week. Mother was as bright and cheery as 
ever. 

Half an hour afterward everybody in the house was sound 
asleep except perhaps Mrs. Knox, through whose window a light 
was still seen. About a quarter to 10 Mrs. Knox threw open her 
window toward the nearest neighbor and cried "Fire !" at the same 
time knocking on the side of the burning house. The house filled 
rapidly with densest smoke before much flame was visible. The 
neighbors gathered and the church bell was rung, bringing together 



160 Mary Clarke Nind 

the townspeople. Mrs. Knox was seen at the outside door of the back 
stairway, but she went upstairs again and never returned. The gen- 
tleman boarder, whose room was between that of Mrs. Knox's 
and Mrs. Nind's, when aroused jumped out on a portico and thence 
down to the ground, but he went to his room by the back stairs, got 
some clothes, came down again and dressed in the yard. Gretchen 
was aroused by the gathering and shouts of the people, her room 
facing the Common. She was heavy with sleep and the suffocation 
of smoke. After first starting up she dropped back on her bed. 
Being further aroused, she got up and tried to go to her grand- 
mother's room, but the smoke was too much for her. She could 
not even reach the stairway. So she took out the wire screen in 
her open window, got down on the cornice over the front door, and 
from there jumped to the grass below. She was not seriously 
injured. After Mrs. Millard was aroused she had great difficulty 
in arousing her daughter. They were able to dress partially, as 
the smoke had not gotten up very much into the attic. Upon 
reaching the second floor and opening the door into the hall the 
light they were carrying went out. They felt that as they had come 
from the third floor everybody on the second floor must have gotten 
out before them. Mrs. Millard being lame, her daughter reached 
the front door first. When Mrs. Millard appeared someone in the 
crowd said, "Now they are all out," which confirmed Mrs. Millard 
in the impression she already had about everybody being out of the 
house before her. She was not long, however, in discovering the 
mistake. Every effort was then made to reach the three persons 
still in the house. Men tried to get up the stairs and to enter the 
chamber windows reached by ladders, but the smoke was over- 
powering. There was no fire apparatus in the town and no fire 
company. Under the circumstances the people did their utmost 
to put out the fire and to save the lives of those in peril; yet in 
spite of all the flames soon burst forth and the house was soon 
reduced to ashes. The cause of the fire is not known and no satis- 
factory theory in reference to it has ever been arrived at. 

The charred bodies of Mrs. Nind and Lydia and Mrs. Knox 



The Final Events of a Useful Life 161 

were taken from the ruins the next day. As Mrs. Knox's body 
was found near those of Mrs. Nind and Lydia, it is supposed that 
she became overcome by smoke while making an effort to warn 
mother and Lydia and to be of assistance to them. The relative 
position of the bodies indicated that mother and Lydia had not 
moved from their beds. It is believed that without waking they 
became insensible through suffocation ; that they neither realized 
danger nor suffered pain. Someone has said, "They just woke up 
in heaven without knowing how it happened they got there so 
soon." 

Shocking as was this way of departing this life, to the members 
of her family and to her hosts of friends, it was very much as she 
would have had it. She had always wanted to go while active in 
the Lord's service. Those who heard her speak at Goshen the 
previous Sunday and at the Laurel Park Camp-meeting on Thurs- 
day realized how potential she was, and yet she herself knew that 
her activities in the future would be subject to physical limitations. 
The prayer, "From sudden death, Good Lord, deliver us," was not 
one she made her own. Her prayer was that she might he spared 
from a lingering illness or physical infirmities that would make 
her a burden to anyone. In short, she wanted before she had out- 
lived her usefulness in this life, suddenly to pass on to the higher 
activities of the better life. God granted her desire and we praise 
Him. 




WESLEY M. E. CHURCH, MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 



[n this picture is shown also the Centenary M. E. Church, which was the earlier home of 
the Society, together -with the parsonage 



CHAPTER XXVI 

THE FINAL OBSEQUIES 

The information concerning his double bereavement did not 
reach Mr. George Nind, who was busy with the numerous services 
arranged for that day in New Bedford, until Sunday evening. As 
soon as possible after recovery from the shock of the news, which 
reached him by a delayed telegram, he sought to get into communi- 
cation with his brother and sister. Miss Louisa Nind received the in- 
formation at her home in Detroit on Monday, the 4th, and left imme- 
diately for Littleton. The 4th of September was Labor Day, and Mr. 
J. Newton Nind had delayed his return to Chicago from his summer 
home in Michigan, and during Monday was en route between Ottawa 
Beach and Chicago, accompanied by his daughters. Telegrams had 
been sent both to his Chicago address and to his summer home, but 
it was not until Tuesday morning that he learned of the death of 
his mother. He joined his brother and sister at Littleton on 
Wednesday, the 6th. Mrs. Lacy and her family were preparing to 
leave China for a stay in America. The bereavement which had 
come to them was cabled to them at their home in Shanghai. 

On the morning of Thursday, September 5th, a simple service 
was held in the Baptist Church in Littleton Commons, at which 
Rev. F. R. Enslin officiated. The sympathizing people of Littleton 
gathered at this service and gave added evidence of their thought- 
fulness, kindness and sympathy. After the service the remains of 
Mrs. Mary C. Nind and Lydia P. Nind were transported to Forest 
Hill Cemetery, Boston, where they were incinerated. Mother had 
repeatedly expressed her belief that cremation was the proper way 
of disposing of the dead, and since this was her preference and 
entirely in accord with the belief of her children, this course was 
adopted. Cremation as a means of the disposal of the dead was 
first brought to her attention at the time of the death of Miss 



164 Mary Clarke Nind 

Frances Willard, who was her colleague at the time women dele- 
gates were first chosen to a General Conference of the Methodist 
Church. Always an admirer of Miss Willard, she thereafter gave 
some study and thought to the subject, and had advised her children 
that when death came she preferred that her body should be cre- 
mated. A short service was held in the crematory chapel of Forest 
Hill Cemetery. There were present of the immediate relatives at 
this service Mr. J. Newton Nind of Chicago, Miss Louisa M. Nind 
of Detroit and Rev. Geo. B. Nind of Madeira Islands, Mrs. Geo. 
F. Ninde of Cambridge, and the family of Rev. Justis H. Nelson, a 
Methodist missionary, of Para, Brazil, related to Geo. B. Nind by 
marriage. Among others who were present were Mrs. John Legg, 
president of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society, New Eng- 
land branch; Airs. Lucy F. Harrison, Mrs. Julius F. Small, Miss 
Pauline J. Walden, Miss Maria Shute, Miss Lily R. Porter, Miss 
Carrie B. Steele and Mrs. Charles Carter, all of whom had been 
laborers with mother in behalf of the cause of the Woman's Foreign 
Missionary Society, and to whom notice of the ceremony had been 
hurriedly conveyed. President Huntington, of the Boston University, 
spoke briefly and tenderly and read from the ritual, concluding the 
services with prayer. 

On Tuesday, September nth, a memorial service was held in 
the Cass Avenue Church, Detroit, Mich., which had been the church 
home of mother in her latter life, and to which she had been greatly 
attached. The services occurred in the afternoon and a company of 
friends and mourners which quite filled the church was gathered 
for this occasion. The church was beautifully decorated. White 
and purple astors, the gift cf many friends, formed the principal 
part of the display. The hymns of mother's choosing, including a 
duet, "Saved by Grace," which she had asked Mrs. Frank Vernor 
and Mrs. Farmer to sing, were rendered. Addresses were made by 
the Rev. E. P. Bennett, the pastor of the church, Rev. E. W. Ryan, 
of Simpson Methodist Episcopal Church, Detroit, and Rev. Dr. 
Hawks, a former pastor of the Cass Avenue Methodist Church, and 
Mrs. A. W. Patten, of Evanston, 111., president of the Northwestern 



The Final Obsequies 165 

branch of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society, who was 
accompanied from Evanston to Detroit by Mrs. L. W. Crandon. 

In addition to the daughter and two sons, there were present 
also Mrs. J. Newton Nind, Mrs. William Lloyd of Glen Ellyn, 111., the 
only surviving sister of James G. Nind and the companion of mother 
during her girlhood and early married life; the three sons of Mr. 
and Mrs. W. H. Lacy, students at Ohio Wesleyan University at 
Delaware, Ohio; Rev. Edward S. Ninde, Miss Mary Ninde, Fred- 
erick Ninde and George Ninde, the children of Bishop William X. 
Nind. 

The final interment of the ashes of Mary Clarke Nind was made 
in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minn., where had been in- 
terred all that was mortal of her beloved husband, James G. Nind, 
and her infant son, Henry Stevens Nind. Here, too, now rest the 
ashes of Lydia P. Nind. A few sympathizing friends gathered in 
the chapel at Lakewood Cemetery, where prayer was offered by 
Rev. Dr. Fayette Thompson, and addresses were made by Rev. Dr. 
W. H. Jordan and Rev. Dr. W. A. Shannon and Mrs. C. S. 
Winchell. Loving tributes were paid to the mother's memory by all 
of the speakers, who had known her intimately for years and who 
had shared in her labors. The company was largely made up of the 
ladies who had been active workers with her in behalf of the 
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, some of them nearly as 
advanced in years as she herself. Among the number who attended, 
and who extended words of sympathy to the writer of these lines, 
was one who had been a member of mother's Sunday school class 
while she was yet a girl in England, and who had maintained her 
acquaintance during all the vanishing years, and who said that she 
had since on frequent occasions been able to entertain mother at 
her own home in Iowa. She had traveled many miles to pay this 
last tribute to one who had been dear to her for nearly three-quar- 
ters of a century, and whose life and example had been a constant 
inspiration to her. No tribute which was paid so touched the heart 
of the writer as the one which was bestowed by this life-long friend, 



166 Mary Clarke Nind 

but whose name and address in the emotion of the occasion has 
been entirely lost. 

In her will, which was drawn when she was sixty years of age, 
and while she was yet a resident of Minneapolis, mother named those 
whom she desired should act as the pall-bearers at her funeral. All 
of these except two she survived. She directed that her "casket 
be very plain and my funeral a model of simplicity," and that her 
remains "be laid near my husband in Lakewood Cemetery wherever 
I may be when called to Heaven." And further that the headstone 
be inscribed "from the text from which my funeral sermon is 
preached, 'I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is 
day. The night cometh, when no man can work.' " This passage of 
Scripture had been an inspiration to her all her life, for she was 
busy to the last. 

And so rests in beautiful Lakewood Cemetery all that is mortal 
of she who was dear to all who knew her. Here it was her wish to 
rest. This wish, as well as others frequently expressed, including 
a desire for sudden flight to her home, were fulfilled. 

It is a comfort to those who loved her most to know that every- 
thing was as she would have had it done. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

HER BEQUESTS 

During all her years of active connection with the work of the 
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society mother gave freely not only 
of her time and strength to the cause, but was a frequent contribu- 
tor from the money which she possessed. These gifts she rarely 
mentioned to the members of her immediate family. How much 
she gave, and when and how, none of us will ever know. The 
letters and diaries, from which quotations have already been made, 
disclose that at different times she supported young women in the 
missionary field, and it is known that she gave generously for the 
erection of the Deaconess' Home in Singapore, which bears her 
name. During her stay in Foochow, China, she made liberal dona- 
tions to the cause there, and in money and realty contributed to the 
Minnesota branch upwards of $5,000. Nor were her benefactions 
confined entirely to the cause which was nearest to her heart. Dur- 
ing the latter years of her life she made specific donations to a 
number of different causes. These gifts included $2,000 to the 
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, $2,000 to the General Mis- 
sionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, $2,000 to the 
Church Extension Society, $2,000 to the Freedman's Aid and 
Southern Educational Society, $1,000 to the American Bible Soci- 
ety, $1,000 to Albion College, $1,000 to the Board of Education of 
the Methodist Church, and $1,000 to the trustees of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. All these sums were paid before her death, and 
for several years she received annuities upon these amounts, giving 
from this income as freely as she gave the principal. As she grew 
older her mother love for her children became more and more 
marked, and to the will which was drawn in her own hand and 
executed in October, 1885, she added a codicil in 1902 in which she 
said: "Having put into annuities and various benevolent enter- 



168 Mary Clarke Nind 

prises the sum of $10,000, which I estimate is a fifth of all I possess, 
I, by this codicil, revoke all other legacies outside of my immediate 
family. I do this in justice to my dear children." 

The sum given by her to the various benevolences was fully 
double the amount named in this codicil. Gladly, no doubt, would 
she have made this sum still larger had she been able to do so. 

She had but a single unsatisfied ambition in life, and this cen- 
tered about the celebration of her eightieth birthday, which, had she 
lived, would have occurred on the 9th day of October. She desired 
to gather about her all her children and grandchildren. The fact 
that her youngest son was in this country — delayed beyond his 
expectations — and that there was a promise that her younger daugh- 
ter would be home from China by that date, encouraged her in this 
desire. When it became evident that Mr. and Mrs. Lacy and their 
daughter would not arrive until after the 9th of October, Thanks- 
giving day of 1905 was selected for the family reunion, and the 
plans for this reunion were the subject of the last correspondence 
which the writer of these lines had with his mother. This incident 
is related here in evidence of the warmth of her mother love in these 
latter days and years of her life here on earth. She clung lovingly 
to her son, whose companionship it was possible for her to enjoy all 
of the glad summer of 1905 ; was rather rejoiced when circum- 
stances prevented his return to his work when he expected it would 
occur, and was looking forward with hope to the time when she 
might enjoy the undivided companionship of her elder daughter, and 
more than aught else to get together her four children, her son-in- 
law and daughter-in-law, and her ten grandchildren. 

And so this volume is designed to perpetuate not only the mem- 
ory of our mother, but to perpetuate as far as possible her generous 
support of the cause in which she labored for so many years. Let 
others pay further tribute. It is ours to mourn, and ours to feel 
that the influence of her good deeds will live even beyond the 
memory of them. 




LYDIA P. NIND 



Daughter of Geo. B. Nind. whose life -went out 
with that of fcer grandmother 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

MARY CLARKE NIND — IN MEMORIAM 
By MRS. C. S. WINCHELL 

*I had said to Mrs. Joyce I could not trust myself to speak today. 
My heart had been so full of sorrow, so shocked at the magnitude 
of the sudden loss that had come to her family, to the church, 
the missionary society, the world, I could think of naught save 
appalling tragedy, the irreparable loss. 

But, at night, as I closed my eyes in the quiet of my room, the 
thought of our beloved leader glorified came to me, and I could 
almost hear her say, in the dear, familiar tones, "Beloved, mourn 
not ; be glad, and rejoice ; the conflict's o'er, the victory won, home, 
sweet home, and heaven at last." 

Many times in life she had said there should be no funeral weeds 
and emblems of death and mourning when a Christian enters into 
life; rather psens of praise and songs of victory that time and 
change are ended, eternal life begun. 

For forty years Mary C. Nind has stood in the front rank of 
Methodism, doing blessed work for Christ and the world. The 
;call to public service in the missionary work of the church came 
through the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, and to it at its 
organization thirty-five years ago she consecrated herself, giving, 
unreservedly, time, strength, thought, prayer, plans and money, and 
later her younger son and daughter. She withheld nothing from 
God, and richly was she rewarded. 

She felt she was in the Lord's service, and "The King's business 
requireth haste" was a favorite motto. Again, more than any other, 
I have known it was true of her that "Whatsoever her hand found 
to do, she did it with her might." She often said of the work in 
hand, "This one thing I do" ; and such were her faith and courage 

* An address delivered at the services held in the chapel of Lakewood 
Cemetery, Minneapolis, September 11th, 1905. 



170 Mary Clarke Nind 

and persistence, we knew if she undertook a thing it would be 
done. 

By faith she laid the foundation of this great society in Minne- 
sota, the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho — on even to the Pacific coast, 
going through the wilds of this new territory, over the unbroken 
prairie, in wagon, or cart, or sleigh, by day and by night, in freight 
train or day coach, seldom allowing herself the luxury of a Pull- 
man (if, indeed, there were one), traveling as many as five thousand 
miles in a single year. 

But no sacrifice was too great or counted aught but joy if she 
might win workers for Christ. And win she did! Aside from 
Frances Willard, we believe there has not been a woman of our 
time who has wielded so mighty an influence as she, or lifted so 
many lives heavenward. 

Wonderful was her power over an audience; thrilling her elo- 
quence, so that, without ordination or other earthly commission, she 
was gladly welcomed to the pulpits of the largest churches of the 
land. Because she knew and felt the blessedness of salvation, she 
made others want it too. Because she had learned the joy of giving, 
she knew how to make it a delight and joy for others to give, and 
some of her happiest moments were spent in taking a collection. 

By faith, she planted a mission to women in Malaysia, and the 
words she uttered, "Frozen Minnesota will send the gospel to the 
women at the equator," have become historic. 

But in this, as in all else with her, Faith and Works walked 
hand in hand, and the years of praying, toiling and giving for that 
mission have resulted in glorious fruitage for Christ and the world. 

Like Enoch, Mary C. Nind walked with God, and is not, for 
God took her. And do you know, dear friends, now I'm glad she 
went that way. I believe she is glad too. She so longed to be her 
best for the Master's sake, to do only the best for Him, that she 
dreaded the thought of imperfect service, and years ago she charged 
me to tell her of any signs of failing I might note in her because 
of age. But we never saw any ; at the last it could be said of her, 
as of Moses, her "eye was not dim nor her natural force abated." 



In Memoriam 171 

Then, too, she was so self-helpful in her nature, so fearful of 
burdening others, that long illness or feebleness would have been 
a trial to her. She has been spared all that which comes to many, 
spared the torture of pain and the wasting of disease. 

With endless life begun, she seems, from the battlements of 
heaven, to call to us today to go forward with the work she loved, 
and follow her even as she followed Christ. 



jfor #ne #one Home 



MARY CLARKE NIND 

What said the Master as his hour drew near 
At that sad feast where sorrow sat, a guest? 

When strange amaze filled every heart with fear. 
The dear disciple leaning on his breast? 

Serene He smiled on each beloved face; 

Perchance His hand on John was gently laid. 
His voice, like music, filled the silent place; 

" Let not your heart be troubled or afraid." 

Not of the scourge, the mocking crowd, the frost, 

The anguished hours whose swift approach He knew, 

But tender comfort for all grief and loss. 

Sweet words of grace: "My peace I leave with you.'' 

If we could see the faces, hovering near, 

Veiled by the darkness of this mortal shade. 

From lips beloved this message we might hear : 
"Let not your heart be troubled or afraid.'' 

She walked with God, and nearer, day by day. 
Drew the clear shining of the mansions fair. 

Till sudden, at the parting of the way, 

She slept and waked, and, wondering, found her there. 

Dear human presence, lifted from our view 

That bright heaven, the homeland of thy heart. 

Whose tranquil skies thy happy spirit knew. 
Death cannot set thee from our lives apart. 

For still we deem thy gracious soul must keep 
Its generous care, its thoughts serene and high. 

And love, but change to grow more strong and deep, 
Where endless years in endless joy go by. 

— BY EMILY HUNTINGTON MILLER 



CHAPTER XXIX 

MARY CLARKE NIND — A TRIBUTE 
By MRS. CHARLOTTE F. WILDER 

* This is a hard thing I have had given me to do today. I dare 
not trust myself to speak except from my paper. 

In all this Topeka Branch no one had more reason to love and 
honor Mrs. Mary C. Nind, "Our Little Bishop," than the one to 
whom was given this duty of paying tribute to her memory. 
Because Mrs. Nind knew I loved her so truly she gave me oppor- 
tunities to see her as but few saw her, except her very own dear 
ones, and, because of this, I will try and make my word-picture of 
this saint, who has gone home to glory, so true and clear that 
younger fellow-workers may know her, love her memory, and 
follow in her footsteps. 

The last time I was with you in Nebraska, four years ago, at 
Beatrice, Mrs. Nind wrote in a little book I have, in which only 
choice souls write, these words from St. Paul : "Grace to you and 
peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my 
God upon all my remembrance of you, always in every supplication 
of mine on behalf of you, making my supplication with joy, and 
this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more, in 
knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things 
that are excellent ; that you may be sincere and void of offense until 
the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which 
are through Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God." 

From the beginning of our acquaintance, when, one day, twenty- 
three years ago, she came to our home to ask me to write for the 
Missionary Society the book, "Sister Ridenour's Sacrifice" (from 

* Read at Lincoln, Neb., before a large audience at the twenty-second 
annual meeting Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, Methodist Episcopal 
Church, Topeka Branch, Tuesday p. m., October 17, 1905. 



174 Mary Clarke Nind 

which was gathered in through her efforts hundreds of dollars), 
until the day of her translation in a chariot of fire, her life expressed 
in action the wish which she quoted for me from St. Paul four years 
ago. When I heard of her death the first thought that came, after I 
could think at all, was the selfish one, "How am I to go on in my 
life work without the encouragement and prayers of my friend ?" 
And something of this same heartache and sense of loss came to all 
the lovers of our Missionary Society who know how Mrs. Nind's 
soul was knit to it and its workers. 

Her heart was large, her love for humanity world-wide, and 
though we knew how she loved others, yet, we each felt, at times, 
as though we, alone, were engulfed in this sea of tender thought 
and care. How like our Lord ! Such vastness of love, and yet the 
nearness ! How she must have walked and talked with Him to have 
obtained this grace ! 

She was very just to her friends. She must have been a won- 
derful mother! Her fairness, justness, methodical exactness was 
an uncommon trait in a character so full of intense enthusiasm. 
This fairness was shown, even, in the little affairs of life. A card, 
written with her own hand, August 8, less than three weeks before 
her death, says : 

"Beloved Charlotte: Your good letter received. Thank you; will 
answer in due time ; many more ahead of yours. Glad to hear all is well with 
you and yours. We expect to remain here during August. Am sending you a 
love-token. Let me know when it comes to hand. Lovingly to you all. 

Mother Nind." 

"Many more ahead of yours ; will answer in due time." 
Often have I envied her that trait of fairness and exactness, not 
alone in her correspondence but in all the duties of life. I see her 
now, at a writing-table placed for her use by a west window in 
our home, when she was with us in the spring of 1902, answering 
letters, filing some away for reference and destroying others. There 
never were any frayed out ends in her work for some one else to 
gather up and tuck away. 

That spring I had been very sick and when she came to us was 



A Tribute 175 

just able to leave my bed for the lounge, and, because I was so weak 
and helpless she gave me many confidential bits from her own life — 
experiences that were to me like rosmary and asphodel. They 
touched, as she intended they should, the discouraged side of my 
own life and made me take heart again. On the Sabbath she 
preached in our church and spoke for our "Thank Offering," taking 
double what anyone had ever before taken, she climbed the stairs 
to "the upper-room," weary as she must have been after preaching, 
that she might look in the faces of the young men in my Bible class, 
because, she said, "I knew, Charlotte, you would like to have me." 
And she spoke to "my boys" in a way long remembered by them. 
She never thought of her 76 years, that day, only to be glad in the 
fact that God gave her opportunities to be of such use in the world. 
She gloried in sacrifice. She rejoiced that she could work for the 
Master. 

When I read Mrs. Browning's sonnet, "What Are We Set on 
Earth For?" I always think of Mrs. Nind,— 

"To toil, 
Nor seek to leave the tending of the vines 
For all the heat o ' the day, till it declines, 
And death 's mild curfew shall from work assail, 
God did anoint thee with his odorous oil, 
To wrestle, not to reign; and He assigns 
All thy tears over, like pure crystallines, 
For younger fellow-workers of the soil 
To wear for amulets. So others shall 
Take patience, labor, to their heart and hand, 
From thy hand and thy heart and thy brave cheers, 
And God's grace fructify, through thee, to all. " 

Mrs. Nind's methodical exactness was shown, not only in her 
manner of doing duty, but in the time given to each duty. I have 
known her to come to the breakfast-table with an assignment for 
some work every hour in the day, even for the time it would take 
to sew a button on a glove. Perhaps you and I have tried to be thus 
methodical, but we did not meet with success. Mrs. Nind adhered 



176 Mary Clarke Nind 

to her plan. Time was a God-given commodity to her. It was her 
capital and she cherished it like a faithful steward. 

Mrs. Nind had a great love for the Hymns of the Ages. As 
long ago as 1885 she wrote she was singing hymns "654" and "655" 
and they were a great comfort to her. (One commencing, "My 
Jesus, as Thou Wilt," and the other, "Thy Way, Not Mine, O 
Lord.") 

Did you ever hear Mrs. Nind start the hymn, "How Firm a 
Foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord, is Laid for Your Faith in His 
Excellent word ?" The first time I heard her sing this was here in 
Lincoln, in '87, when the General Executive meeting was in this 
city. As one looked at her face and listened it seemed as though 
Joshua were saying to one's very soul, "Be strong and of good 
courage !" 

One evening in my own home she must have spent hours singing 
with my husband the old, old hymns taught him in childhood by a 
sainted mother. How happy she was, as she sang or as she talked 
about the hymns! Not long ago, perhaps not a year ago, she wrote 
she was singing, at her private devotions, the hymn-book through. 
No wonder she was strong intellectually as well as spiritually. 

She said things one never forgot. In an experience meeting, 
twenty years ago, I heard her tell how God called her, as a child, to 
be a missionary, but her life was so shaped that she was unable to 
go, yet God did not forget "the call," and, what was a harder thing 
than to go herself, she had sent her children. But she gloried in 
being able to bear the cross of Christ. 

Her love for missions made her not only deny self for the work 
but she practiced the closest economy in little as well as great things 
that she might have the money for God's service. Years ago, when 
paper and envelopes were somewhat more expensive than now, I 
doubt not but there are some present who received letters from Mrs. 
Nind written on odd sheets of paper and enclosed in envelopes turned 
wrong side out ! If a penny were saved in this way we may be sure 
it fell into the treasury of the Lord, for money, as well as time, was 
a sacred thing, because it represented the power of soul-saving. 



A Tribute 177 

Her call into this work of foreign missions came at a time when 
domestic cares were heavy, a little money had to be stretched to its 
uttermost limit, and, in her estimate of self, she seemingly had no 
talent for the peculiar duties laid upon her. She heard the call and 
obeyed the summons, then spent a morning in prayer, when she 
wrestled, like Jacob of old, crying in agony of spirit, "I will not let 
Thee go except Thou bless me!" That day God gave her such a 
blessed proof of his willingness to help, that she was enabled to go 
forward in a work where the harvest has yielded to her sickle, in 
this land and in foreign lands, some sixty and some an hundred fold. 

What an optimist our friend was ! What a spirit of brightness 
and hopefulness pervaded everything she did! What keen wit! 
What a charming sense of humor she possessed, — oftenest seen in 
a glance of appreciation or in the sparkle of her eyes. How this 
trait of character must have helped her over many peculiarly trying 
places in her "journeyings" while about her Master's business. 
How courteous she was. How graciously she received the homage 
we gave her as willing subjects of a queen. How we loved this 
woman! Did Richter dream of our friend when he said of a rare 
soul, "Her life was a benediction and her face a love-letter to all 
humanity ?" 

When by her wisdom and foresight our Topeka Branch was 
organized, a doubting soul said to her, "How can we ever go 
alone?" She laughed in glee as she saw the child a giant and the 
little one become a thousand. "Why, your West is full of brave, 
strong women who will take God at his word," she replied. 

She never wearied. Her zeal never flagged and her love for 
souls never grew cold. Her heart took in all the world ; her clear 
brain saw its needs; her faith saw the work accomplished. Was 
there ever a time in this woman's life when she saw defeat? I 
doubt it. Even if it appeared a defeat, it was in seeming only ; she 
was sure to come off conqueror. 

I need not tell what Mrs. Nind was to the missionaries in the 
foreign field. You know she was the guiding star to many a faithful 
worker, and each was grateful for her aid, her counsel, sympathy, 



178 Mary Clarke Nind 

prayers. When she went around the world, she was everywhere 
joyously welcomed, and when she went from each station she left 
behind her those who had more hope, more courage, a greater long- 
ing for holy living and for deeper devotion to the work of the 
Master than they had before she came. In the homeland, at Branch 
annuals, at General Executive meetings, in organizing, in building 
up auxiliaries, she was a force, like light, to illume; like heat, to 
warm and encourage; like electricity, to silently set in motion. 
Unobtrusive, quiet, yet powerful in bringing about results, she was 
an ideal worker in the cause so dear to her soul. 

From childhood Mrs. Nind lived an unusually helpful life, the 
influences of which will cease only when time shall be no more. In 
training her children for the high position given them, she was a 
success. In her duties as evangelist and temperance speaker, she 
never shirked. In our Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, from 
the beginning of its western history, "In Journeyings Oft" and in 
labors abundant ; in addresses on platform and in pulpit, for half a 
century, she was always and everywhere a leader, a conqueror. 
Beside all this, Mrs. Nind had such a forceful but charming per- 
sonality that, without question, she was the most notable as well as 
the most helpful and best loved woman in our Methodism. 



CHAPTER XXX 

IN LOVING MEMORY OF "MOTHER NIND" 
By MARY E. HOUSER 

* It is with a tenderness we cannot express that we come bring- 
ing the flowers of sweetest fragrance and breaking the alabaster box 
of love, pouring out its contents as affection's tribute to the memory 
of our own now glorified and sainted Sister Nind. One year ago she 
was with us — 

"Her beautiful face, I see it yet; 
What thronging memories come ! ' ' 

as we recall the lively interest she took in this the annual gathering 
of the old people. In her last letter to me she asked, "Are you to 
have an old folks' party this year?" I assured her we were, for I 
was confident that the Epworth League would not let pass anything 
so conducive to happiness as this party. Yes, I see her now, with 
hair of silvery whiteness, her countenance suffused with a divine 
light, her wonderful soul making itself felt through the spoken 
word as she addressed us in that rich, melodious voice, "Now, 
beloved," saying it as only she could say it. I am not here to 
analyze the character of our dear sister, but in reviewing her life 
to gather a few thoughts that will help us to higher and holier 
living because we have known her. 

It has been said that "the measure of a career is determined by 
three things: First, the talent that ancestry gives; second, the 
opportunity that events offer; third, the movements that the mind 
and will conceive and compel." No doubt ancestry bestowed rare 
gifts, and the opportunity was exceptional ; but what the mind con- 
ceived, and the will compelled, in our sister's case, was more than 
all else. Her mind and heart received in early life "the true Light 

* Written for the ' ' Old People 's Party ' ' and read at their annual gather- 
ing, held in Simpson Church, Detroit, in October, 1905. 



180 Mary Clarke Nind 

which lighteth every one that cometh into the world/' and this gave 
to her that abundant life which is promised. Those of us who have 
read her life will remember how she preached her first sermon at 
twelve years of age. Later in life it could well have been said of 
her, as of another sister whom Dr. Cuyler had invited into his 
pulpit, when questioned by the synod if the sister was ordained, he 
replied, "No, she was foreordained." Truly if any one was ever 
called of God to preach his gospel our dear sister was, as the fruit 
of her preaching can testify. 

On the veranda of a beautiful cottage at Bay View, one year 
ago this summer, she related to me her experience in the conserva- 
tive church to which she belonged. How she longed to give expres- 
sion to her inner life, but when she attempted to do so in public 
she was criticised and taken to task for it. At last she found in the 
Methodist church a true home and a field for the exercise of her 
rare gifts. In the letter which she brought to her beloved church 
were these words: "Mrs. Nind, who has not walked in harmony 
with our church." What a blessing to the world that she did not 
walk in harmony with the formalism of a cold church ! It was the 
Spirit that would give life ; this she had discovered through her own 
experience, and it gave a new meaning to everything. 

It was no less a leader in the Lord's vineyard than the late 
D. L. Moody who discovered her talent and invited her to address 
his meeting. It was soon pressed home upon her that the Lord was 
calling her to do the work of an evangelist. This would call her to 
give a large share of her time outside of the home. In consultation 
with her husband he said, "If it be the Lord's will, you must go." 
Let us remember that at this time it was the day of small things 
for women. Mary Lyon, the forerunner of woman's emancipation 
educationally, had gone to her rest twenty years before. Frances 
Willard, that queenly woman, had not commenced her achievements 
"for God and Home and Native Land." Wendell Phillips, that 
matchless orator and statesman, had said in a lecture some years 
previous, in speaking of the sphere of woman, "Leave it to woman 
to choose for herself her profession, her education and her sphere." 



In Loving Memory of "Mother Nind" 181 

Sentiment in regard to woman's public work was gradually rising. 
No less a writer than Edward Eggleston said of Mrs. Nind, "She 
should be licensed to preach." 

By birthright she was a woman of large faith. In this realm she 
began life at the point where the few end and which the many fail 
to reach. What seemed impossible to others was within her realm 
of possibility, and after a talk with the Lord about it she would say, 
"It can be done." 

When a young girl she was much interested in foreign missions, 
so much so that she resolved to become a missionary. When she 
unfolded her desire to her mother, she was dismayed to find her 
mother was not willing to make a missionary of her own daughter. 
How like so much of the missionary zeal of today ! I wonder how 
many of us could stand this test? Mother Nind resolved then that 
if the Lord gave her children, and they all wanted to go as mis- 
sionaries, she would freely give her consent. How well she did this 
we have but to read the names of a loved son and daughter doing 
most effective work in the foreign field. So we are not surprised 
when the originators of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society 
early discovered the gifts of Mother Nind and enlisted her in this 
important branch of woman's work. 

Missions were no playtime with her. She labored, literally night 
and day, to advance this work, riding miles through a new country 
in all kinds of weather. No sacrifice was too great, and no hard- 
ship too much to endure for Him whose she was and whom she 
served. She was a "hilarious giver" — she gave joyfully. 

It would take a large volume to tell what Mother Nind was to 
this work. She was indeed a bishop. She had her eye on the 
foreign as well as the home field. She probably knew more of the 
missionaries personally than any other woman. In 1894 it was her 
privilege to accompany the late Bishop W. X. Ninde in his episcopal 
visitation of our missions in eastern Asia. The inspiration she was 
to all the missionaries while over there is indicated in that most 
interesting and instructive book, "In Journeyings Oft." Preaching 
sermons as she toured the missionary districts; teaching Bible 



182 Mary Clarke Nind 

classes; one Bible class of young men in the Foochow Anglo- 
Chinese College gave her two beautiful scrolls as a token of their 
appreciation of her help to them. Her home abounds in tokens of 
love and esteem from her children over the sea, but more than all 
material gifts is the wealth of love that arises from thousands of 
redeemed souls who have been brought to Christ through her instru- 
mentality. 

I shall never forget the last sermon that I heard her preach, 
about one year ago, at Bay View. It was a beautiful Sabbath 
morning. Arrayed in her simple dress of immaculate whiteness, a 
token of the pure spirit within, she took her text from the book of 
Revelation, 14 :6 — "I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, 
having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell upon 
the earth, and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people." 
She preached as only one can who preached in the power of the 
Holy Spirit. We were edified and inspired to do our best. 

Beautiful as our loved one was in public life, she was no less so 
in private life — an ideal mother. How she reckoned on her chil- 
dren! and was ever solicitous for their highest interests. Neither 
was she so much engaged in public work that she could not realize 
that practical matters must be attended to. If there was one text 
that seemed to have practical value to her, it was that "cleanliness 
was next to godliness." "Who sweeps a room as for thy laws, 
makes that and the action fine." While she believed that the life 
was more than meat and the body than raiment, and gave very little 
thought to what she should eat, and what she should drink, and 
wherewithal she should be clothed, so perfect was her taste in the 
matter of dress, in its sweet simplicity, that it only gave an added 
charm to her attractive face and winsome personality. 

Eighty years young ! Was she not an example of the Scripture, 
"And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday?" She was 
vivacious, buoyant, sympathetic. She understood the art of growing 
old gracefully. She possessed the greatest thing in the world in 
large measure — love, love to God and man. Said a young man to 
me — a Catholic — "How much I thought of that dear woman; she 



In Loving Memory of "Mother Nind" 183 

comforted me more than any other person after my mother died." 
And so I might multiply but not exhaust this record of her 
Christian devotion. Who can measure the results of such a life? 
Its influence goes on and on in multiplying power through time and 
eternity. 

Dear, blessed, beautiful Mother Nind! How we loved thee! 
May we seek to emulate thy spirit of loving helpfulness for others, 
aptness to forbear, wisdom to advise, counsel to direct, and that 
triumphant faith which says in the language of the apostle, "There 
is nothing can separate us from the love of God, neither death, nor 
life, things present nor things to come." Then shall we, as she does 
today, "behold the King in his beauty." 



CHAPTER XXXI 

TRIBUTES BY THE CHURCH PRESS 

DR. J. M. BUCKLEY IN THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. 

The late Mrs. Mary Clarke Nind, whose sudden death was 
announced in the Christian Advocate, was known widely in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and in her travels had accumulated a 
large number of acquaintances and friends. She was born near 
London, England, and at the time of her death was nearly eighty 
years of age. She was converted at the age of five years, and 
became a member of the Congregational Church as soon as she 
could be admitted. According to Dr. James H. Potts, she was led 
to become a Methodist because of "an impelling desire to speak in 
public meetings about the work of God," which for women to do 
was in most Protestant communions an abomination not to be con- 
templated for a moment. Her aspect suggested energy and a con- 
trolling mind. As she grew older there was added to her forceful 
aspect and deportment a softness, a sweetness, the more fascinating 
by reason of its background. 

We have read with interest the editorials which her useful life 
and tragic death have elicited, but cannot irradiate our tribute by 
accounts of personal interviews and close friendship. She was one 
of the five women who presented credentials from as many lay 
electoral conferences to the General Conference of 1888. One of 
these withdrew. Frances E. Willard was not present. But Mrs. 
Nind and two others were, and she was seated within a few feet of 
the members of the conference to which the writer belongs; in the 
midst of the discussion of the eligibility of the applicants we had 
the pleasure of being presented to her. It was doubtless a great 
trial of her faith and patience to regard with much favor one who 
was disputing her right to a seat, but our subsequent acquaintance 
was agreeable, and it was a delight to her to live long enough to see 



186 Mary Clarke Nind 

women (by a change of the constitution, which had been the lion in 
the way) admitted to seats in the General Conference. 

She took great interest in missions, being a leading worker and 
speaker in the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, was effective 
in evangelistic work, and for many years was a successful Sunday 
school teacher. 

At the close of the General Conference of 1888 she went to the 
General Conference of Temperence, which convened that year in 
London. After that she traveled around the world, visiting our 
chief mission stations. 

Only the day before her fatal visit to Littleton "Mother" Nind, 
as she was affectionately called in Woman's Foreign Missionary 
Society circles, appeared unheralded on Laurel Park Camp Ground, 
at Northampton, Mass., on missionary day. She was accorded the 
place of honor. One who was present writes : "She conducted the 
opening services with a Bible reading upon the resurrection of 
Jesus, and offered a prayer of marvelous beauty and devotion," 
which seemed to our informant to indicate "a wonderful spirituality 
and nearness of approach to God. The president of the meeting 
spoke lovingly and appreciatively of 'Mother' Nind, saying that in a 
few weeks she would be eighty years of age. 'Yes,' she interrupted, 
'if I don't go to heaven before then.' " Her fiery translation came 
before the rise of the next Sabbath's sun. 

On September 10 the writer fulfilled an engagement to preach 
the reopening sermon of Cass Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, 
Detroit. The pastor conducted the services. Dr. James E. Jacklin, 
assistant editor of the Michigan Christian Advocate, whose family 
are connected with that church, offered the opening prayer. There 
seemed to be an invisible pall over the congregation. The prayer 
was pervaded by a mournful strain, and there were vague allusions 
to a great calamity, but not sufficient to indicate to a stranger the 
Cause of the deep-toned sadness. Two special hymns were sung, the 
first referring to the future blessedness of the saints, and the second 
in part magnifying the desirableness of sudden death, however sharp 
the pangs might be. Not a word was said concerning the reopening, 



Tributes by the Church Press 187 

nor had we the slightest idea of what was referred to until just 
before the sermon. Mrs. Nind had removed to Detroit from Minne- 
apolis, with which city her public history had long been connected, 
and was a beloved member of that congregation. Under the circum- 
stances we made little reference to the reopening. 

EDITORIAL IN NORTHWESTERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. 

How the women have helped Methodism ! Susannah Wesley 
and Barbara Heck are only first in a great host of peers who, if less 
widely known, were not less working or less efficient. And it is 
quite to Methodism's credit that women were early made free of the 
privileges of the church; that wherever they elected to work they 
were at liberty and encouraged to work. That woman was, for 
years, denied official representation in the General Conference did 
not in any way abridge her usefulness. The legislation of that body 
was quite as strongly representative of woman's influence as if she 
had been present in person. Most legislators have the interest of 
mother, sister, wife and daughter at heart as much as they have 
their own. 

Chief among the later mothers in our Israel was Mary Clarke 
Nind, whose tragic death on September 2 we have already chron- 
icled. By sheer force of native gifts she might have distinguished 
herself in many ways. She had the quality of the prophet in the 
keenness of her intellectual vision, in the hopefulness of her outlook, 
in the directness and persuasiveness of her speech. She had the 
statesman's poise of character and cosmopolitan sympathy. She had 
the priestly quality in a passion for holiness of life, in sureness of 
spiritual penetration, in knowledge of the human heart ; she had the 
quality of the man of affairs in a clear-eyed, accurate, and wide 
observation of the facts of life and in the capacity for sane generali- 
zation; and then she had a perfect genius for philanthropy. It is 
no wonder that all good men and women loved her and that every 
good cause coveted her support and service. Her name as an officer 
was a guarantee of the value and efficiency of any organization to 
which she gave it. 



188 Mary Clarke Nind 

While active in many ways, it is perhaps chiefly as a worker in 
the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society that Mrs. Nind will be 
remembered. The cry of the heathen never lost its pathos or power 
in her heart ; the sense of their need was a constant constraint upon 
her. It may be said with perfect truth that she looked upon them 
with her Lord's eyes and her Lord's sympathy. In proof of her 
devotion she gave two children to the mission field — a son, George, 
a successful missionary to the Portuguese ; a daughter, Emma, wife 
of the Rev. William H. Lacy of our work in China. In 1894, in 
company with Bishop Ninde's party, she made a tour of the mis- 
sions in the Orient. One of her colleagues in speaking of this 
journey describes it as a sort of "triumphal march," saying that 
everywhere she was welcomed as "the little bishop" whose presence 
was a benediction and an inspiration. 

Never was there a more welcome presence at missionary anni- 
versaries. It was impossible to be otherwise than happy, hopeful, 
aggressive in the light of her faith and the exuberant joy of her 
hope. A fellow worker testifies that of all her rare qualities of mind 
and heart no one stands out more clearly than her unquenchable 
hopefulness. This, she says, was "the basis of her potency in reach- 
ing human hearts and lives. It stimulated her zeal, gave her 
courage, supplied her with abounding cheer, and made her contact 
with other lives instinct with vital energy." Happy the work which 
has even one such spirit to aid it; blessed the workers who have 
such a comrade among them to make the dark places light and the 
forlorn places genial ! When, in 1870, the Western Branch of the 
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society was organized, Mrs. Nind 
was made assistant corresponding secretary; in 1882 she became its 
president. In 1872 she was elected a delegate to the General 
Executive Committee meeting, to which body she was re-elected 
more than once. When the Western Branch was redistributed into 
three branches Mrs. Nind became corresponding secretary of the 
Minneapolis Branch, which position she held until 1888. 

At the time of her death Mrs. Nind was eighty years old. But 
for the accident there was every promise of added years of fruitful 



Tributes by the Church Press 189 

work. There seemed to be no abatement of vitality or vivacity. To 
the last she was the same happy, helpful, stout-hearted, enthusiastic, 
devoted soul her friends had always known — a living testimonial to 
the perennial youthfulness of the heart whose strength is the joy of 
the Lord. It is a beautiful and sacred memory that all her friends 
have of her ; one recalls it as the beauty of a well ordered landscape 
transfigured in the light which never was on sea or shore. It is in 
the presence of such a life that one feels most strongly the death- 
lessness of life. No power, not of God, could ever pass upon such a 
spirit to harm it, or to extinguish it. Because Mrs. Nind believed 
in God and lived in God, she lives in God, and whosoever liveth and 
believeth in God shall not die eternally. 

EDITORIAL IN THE MICHIGAN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. 

As familiarly and prominently known as the more prominent of 
our ministers was this devoted and able woman of Methodism. Her 
unexpected and tragic death, at Littleton, Mass., last Saturday night, 
has sent a wave of sorrow over thousands of our people, and 
especially in the membership of our Woman's Foreign Missionary 
Society, in which she was a master spirit and a tireless worker and 
counselor, and comes like a family bereavement to the Methodists 
of Detroit, her home city. 

Mrs. Nind was a commanding figure among the women of our 
church, by virtue of her devotion, her ability as a public speaker, 
her facile and constant use of her pen, her love for the church and 
her conspicuously useful services for it. She was one of the first 
of the four women elected as delegates to the General Conference 
as early as 1888, when the Conference refused them admission. 

Mrs. Nind's maiden name was Clarke, and she was born in rural 
surroundings near London nearly eighty years ago, and at the age 
of five was converted, uniting as soon as she could with the Congre- 
gational Church. In later years she was constrained by her warmth 
of heart and impelling desire to speak in public meetings about the 
work of God to transfer her membership to the Methodist Church. 
In early life she showed an innate fondness for religious discourse, 



190 Mary Clarke Nind 

and was able to reproduce the lines of thought of all the sermons 
she heard, and quite enjoyed giving a synopsis of them. This made 
it easy for her to frame the outlines of original discourses, which she 
was fond of doing. 

It was her desire to be a foreign missionary, but the protests of 
her mother dissuaded her from fulfilling her desires. She imme- 
diately resolved that as a mother she would suffer her children to 
enter this service if they should be drawn to do so. This purpose 
of heart was transformed into reality in the fact that two of her 
four children are now and have been for some years foreign mis- 
sionaries. Her marriage to James G. Nind, a cousin of Bishop W. 
X. Ninde, occurred in their early life. Mr. Nind having already 
come to the United States, this country became their home. 

All her life Mrs. Nind was absorbed in the aggressive move- 
ments of the church. She might truly have said, "The zeal of thine 
house hath eaten me up." The extension of the gospel to those who 
had not heard it was the absorbing thought of her soul. She knew 
the conditions in heathen lands and they weighed upon her heart. 
Every foreign country had been studied, and its population, religion 
and sufferings and needs of the light of truth passed before her eyes 
as a fadeless vision. She saw always the pleading millions of 
who was on the ground and what progress the work was making, 
each land. She knew where these gospel lighthouses were placed, 
heathenism. Then she followed in observation the mission work in 

While studying the foreign field and visiting it, as she did, she 
was incessantly rallying the supporters of the work at home, 
strengthening the societies, forming new societies, making converts 
to the cause and raising means. This was her peculiar field of labor. 
In it she had no peer and no superior. Her name became a house- 
hold word in all Methodist missionary circles. For years she has 
traveled throughout the country in response to calls to address 
conferences, conventions, churches and societies on the subject that 
dwelt in her heart. Practically all her time was thus monopolized. 
Itineraries were arranged to avoid waste of time in travel, and she 



Tributes by the Church Press 191 

was accustomed to speak from pulpit and platform for five or six 
times a week. 

In the meanwhile her pen was busy writing personal encourage- 
ment and counsel to individuals and to societies. It would require 
one of these sister workers to begin to tell of the abundance of her 
labors on this field. 

Mrs. Nind was a good public speaker, easy in utterance, abun- 
dant in matter, confident in bearing, and eager for the victory of her 
cause. There was complete absence of the dramatic element in her 
speech and no shadow of feminine affectation. Her voice and man- 
ner were naturalness and simplicity complete. She dealt rather with 
matter of fact propositions in a straightforward way, trusting in the 
power of fact and truth rather than in the rhetorical dress of it to 
win support. She was equally at home in the church prayer-meeting 
and class-meeting, and prayed and spoke as one that knew God. She 
came into a rich personal experience, in which she lived for years, 
and yet not she but her Lord lived in her. 

How greatly and sadly she will be missed only the missionary 
women of the church can know. All hearts are staggered by the 
manner of her transition. 



MRS. C. S. WINCHELL IN WOMAN S MISSIONARY FRIEND. 

* Mary C. Nind walked this earth for eighty blessed years, and 
is not, for God took her. To the host of those who loved her, to 
the Society she served, the Church she loved, the world she longed 
to save, has come irreparable loss, appalling tragedy ; to her inesti- 
mable gain, eternal weight of glory. 

In the full vigor of her splendid powers of body, mind and spirit, 
in a chariot of fire she passed into heaven. 

Born in Essex, England, the daughter of Ebenezer and Louisa 
Clarke, staunch dissenters, educated in a private school, she early 
gave herself to the Lord and united with the Congregational 
Church. In 1850 she came to America, the bride of James G. Nind, 



192 Mary Clarke Nind 

who established their home in Kane County, Illinois, where they 
resided until their removal to Minnesota in 1866. Five children 
came to gladden their heart, one of whom was transplanted to the 
heavenly home before reaching his third year. The other four, 
tenderly cherished and carefully trained, were early dedicated to the 
Master, and he has rewarded faith and loyalty by calling one son 
and one daughter to fill honorable stations in the homeland, while 
commissioning the other two to bear messages of salvation to South 
America, Africa and China. 

The civil war came, the husband and father entered the service 
of his adopted country, and, with the added responsibility of 
priestess in the home, there came to the young mother the desire 
for deeper consecration. The story of the spiritual struggle and the 
final victory she has told in a most helpful leaflet, "Into the Light." 
It was then she decided she must cast her influence with the follow- 
ers of John Wesley, and Methodism received one of its most de- 
voted adherents. 

The year 1866 found the war clouds passed by, the husband 
spared, and the family reunited and settled in the lovely town of 
Winona in Minnesota, where a wide field for such work soon 
opened, and every department found in Mrs. Nind a capable leader. 
Her eagerness to win souls for Christ led her into evangelistic work, 
and such was the result of her labors that her assistance was eagerly 
sought in the conduct of revival services. 

Indeed every agency for the advance of Christ's kingdom on 
earth, for the betterment or uplift of humanity, discovered in her 
a hearty supporter. It has been said "She had a perfect genius for 
philanthropy" — most true, and it was the longing in her heart to 
save the world which inspired and perpetuated it. 

It was this passion for souls which led her into the world's 
broad fields, through the call of the Woman's Foreign Missionary 
Society. She entered its service as the president of the local auxil- 
iary. Soon, as assistant secretary of the Branch, she began new 
service as an organizer, and as early as 1882 was chosen delegate 
to the General Executive Committee meeting. In 1882 she was 



Tributes by the Church Press 193 

chosen president of the Western Branch, covering most of the 
territory west of the Mississippi. Her eloquent presentation of the 
possibilities of this vast field if properly cultivated caused the 
general executive committee to authorize its division, and she 
assisted in the organization of the Des Moines, Topeka and Minne- 
apolis Branches. As her residence was in the last named, she 
accepted the office of corresponding secretary of the Minneapolis 
Branch and consecrated herself to the development of her new 
parish. 

It was no easy task she set herself. Much of her "Branch" was 
wilderness. The towns were few and far apart, the churches weak 
and struggling, but those frontier pastors always had a warm wel- 
come for one who brought such faith and hope and cheer and love 
of God with her. Her courage never faltered, as by faith she laid 
the foundations of this great organization in Minnesota, the Dakotas, 
Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon, traveling over the un- 
broken prairie and through the wilderness in wagon or cart or 
sleigh, in summer and winter, by day and by night, by freight train 
or day coach (never in a Pullman — the Lord's money was too 
precious for such luxuries), compassing as many as ten thousand 
miles in a single year, and counting it all joy to be engaged in her 
blessed work. 

So well did she succeed that in less than a decade her territory 
was again ready for division, and the fair Columbia River, the 
youngest in the sisterhood of Branches, completed the galaxy of 
eleven fixed stars. 

By her removal to Detroit, in 1900, she became a member of the 
Northwestern fold, and thus five Branches claim her as peculiarly 
their own, while every other one has shared in her labors and 
mourns her loss. 

Her consecration was complete ; in giving herself she gave her 
all: time, strength, talent, speech, song, prayer, influence, money, 
all; all were the Lord's. Her face was radiant with the joy of 
giving. To her, money was a sacred thing, because in the Lord's 
treasury it represented souls. 



194 Mary Clarke Nind 

Malaysia Mission, whose story has oft been told, will stand for- 
ever, a monument of her faith and her liberality. But her gifts 
were not confined to any single mission. The workers on the 
field knew full well that her ear was always open, and an appeal 
to her would bring help, and, in their schools, orphans have 
been cared for, scholarships named and maintained for years by her, 
and native workers trained and supported, so that every mission 
field has acknowledged her influence and shared her beneficence. 
It would be difficult to find a mission home without the framed 
photograph of Mrs. Nind. 

Rarely gifted as a speaker, wonderful was her power over an 
audience. So thrilling her appeals, and so apt her illustrations in the 
weighing of values and proving what is really worth while, that she 
always won the hearts of her hearers. Could the roll call be had 
of those whose feet have been turned heavenward or whose lives 
attuned to loftier purpose or consecrated to mission work while 
listening to Mary C. Nind, what a "cloud of witnesses" would 
gather from every land where shines the gospel light ! 

It was given to her to meet some of these when in 1894- 1896 
she made the tour of the world, that tour described by one as a 
"triumphal march," where she was hailed as "The Little Bishop" 
or, more frequently by those who had known her and loved her 
before, by the more endearing name of "Mother Nind." Others 
there were, with dusky brows, yet with redeemed and joyful hearts, 
who gave her that sweet name, because through her they had been 
brought from the darkness of heathenism into the light of God. 
At the close of an address in India, her interpreter, a native 
preacher, said : "I too can claim you as 'Mother/ for my wife bore 
your name in the orphanage at Bareilly." 

Mrs. Nind read and wrote much, but her chief book was the 
Bible. This she read, studied, fed upon, until it liberally became the 
bread of life to her. The Bible readings prepared and given by her 
testified to her wide acquaintance with this treasure house of 
wisdom. Its influence upon her mind and thought could be traced 
in her writings, her addresses, her daily conversation. She read 



Tributes by the Church Press 195 

other books, those of the great thinkers, devout writers of her time, 
but scanned the daily press only enough to keep in touch with the 
march of God's kingdom among the nations of the earth. Her 
style as a writer was clear, forceful and always attractive. Her 
"Farewell to China," written on the eve of her departure from its 
shores, is beautiful in conception, lofty in expression, and prophetic 
in its sublime declarations. 

Suddenly, unexpectedly, the dire calamity came, but it cannot be 
that the Providence which took her safely through dangers by land 
and sea, through railroad wreck and earthquake shock, through 
"perils by the heathen" in China and the plague in India left her 
to perish by "accident" on September 2d. Nay, rather was that fire 
God's angel of mercy, opening to her the painless gateway of eternal 
life. 

Blessed lot — life's work all done and grandly done, earth's 
mission well fulfilled, sweetly to sleep and in a moment's glad 
surprise to awake in heaven. 

She is gone, but the waves of influence she has set in motion 
shall go on widening and increasing in power, to bless the world 
while time endures and break at last on eternity's shore. 

In writing to a friend the past summer, she slipped a poem into 
her letter, whose last verse now seems prophetic. It reads : 

"Some night or morn or noon, 

Life's journey will be done, 
Nor do I fear if soon 

My endless life's begun. 
Then, O the bliss of that first sight, 
When path and pillow flame with light! " 

EDITORIAL IN ZION's HERALD. 

Mrs. Nind's unusually useful life is well known throughout 
world-wide Methodism — as an evangelist and W. C. T. U. worker, 
in the training of her children, as a notable representative 
of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society in its early and later 
history, in her "around-the-world tour" when she visited our mis- 



196 Mary Clarke Nind 

sions, in her addresses for a half-century upon the platform and in 
the pulpit, and in her sweet and forceful personality, carrying inspi- 
ration and strength wherever she moved. Few women in our 
Methodism have wrought so widely and well, and the announce- 
ment of her translation in the fiery flames will shock and grieve 
multitudes on either side of the water. 



CHAPTER XXXII 

INDIVIDUAL TRIBUTES 

Mrs. Emily Huntington Miller, who in another place has con- 
tributed a tribute in verse, and with whom it was mother's intention 
to make a visit before her return to her home in Detroit, did not 
learn of her death until September 14th. In writing to one of the 
daughters she said: "What can I say to you and your dear sister 
of this double bereavement ! I am so dazed and overwhelmed by it. 
It seems impossible that a noble, beneficent, devoted life like your 
mother's could end so. The only comfort in the circumstance is 
the evident fact that the precious victims were unconscious and 
must, as Dr. Raymond once wished for himself, have 'Wakened 
in heaven without knowing how they got there.' I cannot tell you 
the strength and comfort and rest your mother has always been 
to me. The very peace of God seemed to abide with her. I have 
often said that I never knew a person of such strong, clear, decided 
personal convictions, who had, at the same time, such gentleness 
of judgment toward those who differed from her. It was not charity 
she extended to them, but the most absolute recognition, that they 
had as much right to respect for their opinions as she had for hers. 
I cannot write about it. I couldn't say anything that you do not 
know and feel.' , 

'The first announcement of mother's death brought from Mrs. 
Lucy Erescott Vane, who was so long her companion in the early 
work forlfre Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, a letter full 
of sympathy, in the course of which she said: "There is no lan- 
guage for me to express my sympathy for you. I have always 
wished that my dear Mary might cease at once 'to work and live/ 
because of her temperament, fearing that it might be irksome to her 
to be laid aside from the service of God she loved so much ; but, Oh, 
I never chose for her a chariot of fire. The attitude of her life was 



198 Mary Clarke Nind 

in Christ, and no doubt when He appeared she said, 'I am now 
ready.' " 

Dr. George D. Dowkontt, secretary of the International Medical 
Missionary Society, at Mountain Rest, where mother spent her last 
summer, in writing to George B. Nind following the first news of 
the bereavement which had come to him, said : "It happened to be 
my turn to take prayers, and only yesterday morning we finished 
Genesis and the story of Joseph, which your mother suggested. We 
sang, 'Sometime We'll Understand,' and then I read from I Thes. 
4 : 13-18, and I proceeded to break the sad news. I tried to read your 
letter. I could not read it through, so Dr. Hastings finished and 
led in prayer, and we all commended you to our Father. It was 
indeed a great privilege and pleasure to have your beloved mother 
with us during ten weeks. She was as a mother in Israel to all of 
us, and her genial disposition, earnest spirit and devotion impressed 
us all. We ought all to be the better for her happy, cheerful com- 
pany." 

Mrs. Stephen L. Baldwin, of Brooklyn, N. Y., under date of 
September 23d wrote: "Last Thursday, after presiding all day at 
our quarterly meeting, it was my duty and privilege to give a tribute 
to your dear mother, and, as I spoke, her beautiful life did so open 
out before me, and the sweet essence and fragrance of her memory 
that we met wherever we followed her in the East. Our church 
around the world are mourners today for her loss, but not for her 
victory. I mourn with you, as do multitudes of others. We are all 
the poorer without her, but I rejoice with you as well over the life, 
and find victory in such a life. Happy children and grandchildren 
in coming into such an heritage! At the memorial of her at the 
meeting of the Executive Committee some one said we might have 
known she would go to heaven in no uncommon way. In the winter 
of 1897-8 Dr. Baldwin and I made a tour of eastern Asia for our 
societies, and everywhere her memory was as a precious perfume 
among the natives and missionaries. I congratulate her children 
upon having had such a beautiful mother. The whole church knew 
and loved her, and we are all mourners with her own." 




EARLY PASTORS OF MARY C. NIND WHO CONTRIBUTED 
TO HER RELIGIOUS GROWTH 



1 Rev. S. N. Griffith 



2 Rev. Chauncy Hobart 



3 Rev Wm. McKinley 



Individual Tributes 199 

At the memorial services which were held in Detroit, one of the 
speakers was Mrs. A. W. Patten, president of the Northwestern 
Branch. It had been the intention to reproduce the remarks made 
by Mrs. Patten on that occasion. In reply to the request for a copy 
of what was said, Mrs. Patten wrote : "My remarks, which were 
spoken at the time out of a full heart, I did not write out and pre- 
serve, and have no memory of now. However, nothing that could 
have been said could have adequately expressed my sense of the 
value of your mother's life. She was a monument of what God's 
grace can do in making a disciple of Him great. She yielded herself 
to Him, and she became a prophet. It always seemed to me when 
she spoke as if an angel had placed a live coal taken from God's 
altar upon her lips." 

Mrs. L. H. Jennings, recording secretary of the Northwestern 
Branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, Chicago, 
writes : "None was more truly or generally loved than your sainted 
mother. No doubt clouded the clearness of her vision and duty or 
damped the ardor for its faithful performance. Her faith was pure, 
simple and strong. Her life, like a garden of flowers, was most 
beautiful, and shed the sweetest fragrance on those who came near- 
est to her, and though Mother Nind is no longer in the body, she 
lives and will ever live in the memory of those who have been so 
fortunate as to know her." 

Miss Sophia Blackmore, writing from the Mary C. Nind Dea- 
coness' Home in Singapore, during November, said: "How ready 
she was to go home ! She lived on the borderland, and assuredly as 
the Master sent for Elijah in the chariot of fire, so He sent for dear 
Mother Nind by the fiery flame, and now how she must be enjoying 
it all ! Singapore and all Malaysia owes much to dear Mother Nind 
because she was willing to take a plunge of faith and open woman's 
work here, and all through she has been interested in our work." 

Mrs. John Legg, president of the New England Branch, wrote : 
"We are all greatly bereft, for your blessed mother had such a big 
heart she could take in everybody she knew. I do not believe any 



200 Mary Clarke Nind 

woman could be loved by more than she was. She has gone from 
us in body, but her influence cannot be removed." 

Mrs. Bemis, of Warren, Pa., wrote : "Her counsel was so freely 
given, and was invaluable. She was very dear to me. I delight 
to revert to those happy months spent in her society. Her Chris- 
tian influence over me will never be forgotten and will be with me 
through all my life. Though gone from us, she daily speaks to me, 
and her precious counsel will never be forgotten. I prize most 
highly a fine photograph of her that she gave me about a year ago. 
She came to me one day and asked me if I could keep a secret, and 
when she gave me her fine picture I was perfectly delighted. The 
months spent with her last year at Castile were most precious to me. 
She was an inspiration to me. Each morning while dressing I was 
cheered by hearing her in her room singing some of the beautiful 
hymns. She was such a happy Christian! The remembrance of 
her many kind and cheering words of comfort will never be for- 
gotten by me. Methinks her crown will be thickly studded with 
stars. How faithfully she labored to regain her lost health ! 

Mrs. James H. Ailing, of the Northwestern Branch, Evanston, 
111., wrote: "You have our prayers and sympathy. She was so 
dear to us all. We all called her mother, for she was our mother 
in Israel and of our Branch, and how we do miss her !" 

Mrs. Charlotte Prentice Hayes, of Winona, Minn., wrote : "What 
a life was hers ! and how many there are scattered about the world 
who are better and happier simply because she lived and had the 
courage to follow the life as she saw it ! The strength of her char- 
acter showed in all she said and did. I can hear as if she were 
speaking now the full, rich tones of her delightful voice. Then, her 
carriage — how full of dignity it was ! I remember being especially 
struck by it one of the last times I saw her. I had often read that 
Queen Victoria, though short of stature, was very impressive in her 
bearing. I could never understand it, but this particular evening, 
as I saw your mother in the Methodist Church parlors, standing 
there in all her quiet, simple dignity, with her crown of beautiful 
gray hair, I felt I knew about Queen Victoria." 



Individual Tributes 201 

The Rev. E. S. Fairchild, of Chicago, a member of the Presby- 
terian denomination, wrote: "The precious memories which not 
only you but the whole church preserve of steadfast and self-sacri- 
ficing devotion which your mother gave to the people of God will 
continually abide as a support and inspiration for years to come." 

Louise Manning Hodgkins, editor of Woman's Missionary 
Friend, wrote: "Few can feel more personal grief outside your 
mother's own family than I. I believe I had the last written word 
from her, dated September 2d. God has given you great sorrow. 
May He also give you great comfort." 

Mrs. Charlotte Wilder, of Manhattan, Kans., wrote: "I cry as 
a hungry child cries, a child who cries at the loss of the most 
precious thing it has. Your mother was the truest, the most loving, 
friend I had. She called me Charlotte, and always when her letters 
came my gray hair changed to a curly brown and I was a child 
again, helped and fed by one who loved me. I sometimes think her 
love, thoughtfulness and genuine helpfulness saved me after the 
awful flood of 1903." Mrs. Wilder also wrote, concerning the meet- 
ing of the Topeka Branch : "I wish you could have heard the ex- 
pressions of love for your mother and of purposes to try and live 
as she did, work as she did, and love as she loved." 

Mrs. Jennie Calvert Phillips, of Ontario, Cal., wrote: "Your 
dear mother for many years has been 'Dear Mother Nind' to me. I 
always read everything in connection with her name in any of our 
papers. What a grand woman she was and what an inspiration 
to others to work for God and humanity and never falter and grow 
weary ! I thank our Father for having known her." 

Miss Annie W. Lamson, of Bangor, Me., wrote: "Your dear 
mother's presence was always such a blessing and benediction at the 
Wesleyan Home at Newton, and her words and prayers, morning 
and night, such an inspiration as I never shall forget." 

Mrs. L. W. Crandon, secretary of the Northwestern Branch, of 
Evanston, wrote : "I have known your sweet mother for years and 
counted it one of my greatest privileges to have been associated with 
her in Christian work. A visit or a letter from her was a benedic- 



202 Mary Clarke Nind 

tion. My last letter from her was written only last week, and I was 
looking forward with so much pleasure to seeing her at our annual 
missionary gathering in Battle Creek next month. Her death will 
bring many a heartache to thousands of people around the world, 
and wherever she was known, for every one loved her. In one of 
her recent letters she referred to one of her intimate frinds who had 
died, saying, This is the third friend and fellow worker who has 
gone to glory within a month. Our friends are passing over, and 
we shall soon follow.' " 

Henry S. Ninde, brother of Bishop William X. Ninde, with 
whom she had spent many pleasant days during the latter years of 
her life, wrote : "After all, it is not for her we mourn. How well 
prepared she was to go above in a chariot of fire. I imagine she 
went in quietness, probably never waking out of sleep. Full of 
years and good works, she has been called up higher to that reward 
she had so richly earned by a long life of devotion to her Master." 

A niece in England, Mary L. Searl, wrote : "She had led a most 
useful life, a life consecrated to Christ, and many, very many, will 
bless God that they have known her and heard the sweet words of 
Christ's love flow from her lips." 

Alice P. McKinstry, of Worcester, Mass., wrote : "Her loss here 
will bitterly be felt the world around, as her holy living has blessed 
and uplifted those of many nations; and how dazzling must be 
her crown ! For thirty years I have counted among my great bless- 
ings her acquaintance and love, and as she came repeatedly to my 
Minnesota home, it was ever as a benediction." 

Bishop J. M. Thoburn wired to Mr. George B. Nind: "Deep 
and earnest sympathy. A modern Deborah has fallen." 

Nellie D. Yerkes, of Ypsilanti, Mich., wrote : "Dear Mrs. Nind 
always spoke of 'going home' as if it were only stepping into 
another room, and it is beautiful to think that she has solved the 
mysteries of the beyond and come face to face with the dear Master. 
Do you remember the night we came down from the St. Clair Flats 
together, as we came into port into Detroit, it was so glorious, with 



Individual Tributes 203 

the many lights, and your mother said, 'We will be sailing into 
Heaven some day like this'?" 

Mrs. R. H. Cook, of Buffalo, wrote : "Your mother was almost 
as dear to me as my own mother was. She had done so much to 
mould my life since I knew her. She had taught me so many lessons 
of trust and submission, and now I feel as though I want to live as 
closely to the ideal she had cherished as it is possible for me to do." 

Gertrude E. Angell, of Buffalo, wrote: "Is there not a hint of 
Comfort in the knowledge that she, the honored and beloved princess 
of Methodism, was taken away in the zenith of her glory. Never 
laid aside to wait with folded hands to be called home in her chariot, 
and O what an abundant entrance into her heavenly home! and O 
what a brilliant crown is hers !" 

Miss Rose Weidman, of Glen Ellyn, 111., wrote : "I have always 
thought of your dear mother as one of the sweetest and purest of 
His children. Her very face showed the Christ-life she lived. I can 
never forget her sweet words of love to me, — always to be true to 
God. Her life shall always be one worthy to be followed. May I 
be as true and holy as she." 

Mrs. Laura C. Dunn, of Detroit, wrote: "How I loved and 
honored your dear mother. She was so dear to me in the time of 
my early widowhood. She did much to soothe and comfort me, and 
I know you will be comforted." 

Mary E. Foster, writing from the sanitarium at Clifton Springs, 
said : "Your mother's presence here was indeed a benediction, and 
her memory is blessed." 

Mrs. Emma E. White, of St. Paul, Minn., wrote: "She was 
such a cheery Christian it made one feel as though Mrs. Nind's 
religion was so lovely and infectious that one must live near to God." 

Mrs. J. M. Stevens, of Detroit, wrote : "She was a gifted, noble, 
estimable woman. In ideals and aims she towered above most 
women as the mighty oaks of the forest tower above the under- 
growth, and she was great-hearted, lovable, tender with all her 
strength. God help us all, we shall not soon see her like again." 

Mrs. Roe, of West Webster, N. Y., wrote : "I feel too orphaned, 



204 Mary Clarke Nind 

for your mother was to me spiritually all that a mother could be. 
No one can ever know what she was to me during the years of my 
trial and deepest disappointment. Through her help and inspiration 
she made my disappointment His appointment. To have lived her 
life is more than to have achieved the highest position or greatest 
fortune the world has." 

Dorothy Leavitt, of Columbus, Ohio, wrote : "She will be 
greatly missed and hundreds will mourn her, as she inspired and 
cheered many hearts all over the land." 

Carrie I. Jewell, writing from Foochow, China, said: "Her 
glory in Heaven will not be less for the way she went from earth 
up to the gates. What an abundant entrance must be hers ! How 
glad and well she is today! T shall be satisfied when I awake in His 
likeness.' I can almost hear her say it as I write the words." 

Dr. Genevieve Tucker, of Davenport, wrote: "Our lives fell 
often across each other in the years she lived in Minneapolis and 
was president of the Minnesota branch of the Woman's Foreign 
Missionary Society. I was then in that state. Then I went to the 
mountain heights of Colorado, and for fourteen years we had not 
met ; but she was a mother to my hungry heart, for it has been my 
portion to be motherless for a quarter of a century, and as a young 
woman it was not easy for me to learn 'As long as there are mothers 
here, no child can be quite motherless.' How she hoped and tried 
to persuade me I was the one to open her beloved Singapore work, 
but my work as a physician has been to American mothers. I see 
her now in her plain black dress, so artistic in its touch of white in 
the chemisette ; her beautiful white hair as a crown of glory to her 
animated face ; her strong personality and unwavering faith as she 
sat in my office one winter morning 'to discuss some phase of the 
Master's work.' Those were the days she would touch my shoulder 
with her hand and call me 'daughter,' little knowing how she com- 
forted my mother-sick heart, hungry for one more caress of a 
mother's hand, a sorrow too great for any one to know but my 
Savior. May He comfort your heart likewise. I see her standing 
one Sunday morning in the pulpit preaching, as if inspired, from 



Individual Tributes 205 

Josiah 14:7. How she dwelt upon how the Lord sends out to spy 
out His work, His land, and 'I brought Him word again as it was in 
my heart.' How much she made of the thought that the Lord's 
work suffers from our hearts, our lack of faith. How much brighter 
heaven must be at her entrance, and what a privilege it was to know 
her!" 




MARY C. NIND AND LYDIA P. NIND 

Taken September, 1902, in front of the Wesleyan Home, Newton, Mass. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

TRIBUTES BY ORGANIZATIONS 

There were many formal tributes by organizations with which 
mother had been connected or with which she had labored, some of 
which have been preserved. These are given here : 

Adopted at the twenty-ninth annual meeting of the Northwestern Branch of 
the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society for the year 1904-5. 

MRS. MARY C. NIND — TRANSLATED SEPTEMBER 2, 1905. 

Hidden by the pillar of fire at night one of the Israel of God has passed 
into the promised Canaan. For more than the three score years and ten Mrs. 
Nind has lived a high life of hope, love and holiness, to which death was 
nothing but the breaking away of the last cloud and the letting of the soul 
out to its completion. The tidings of her translation will bear to thousands 
of homes in this and distant lands the sorrow of bereavement. With the 
poignant sense of human loss will mingle the uplifting Spirit of hope of the 
eternal reunion which to her was always certain, sure, abiding. "While others 
bring their tribute of love concerning her rare service in home and church, it 
is in that department of foreign missionary service assigned the women of 
Methodism that Mrs. Nind wrought most wisely and will be longest remem- 
bered. For more than a third of a century she has been officially connected 
with the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. 

The earliest records of this society in the Middle West bear frequent 
evidence of her interest and activity, and later records attest her desire to 
perpetuate its activities. When the branch was organized, in 1870, Mrs. Nind 
became identified with the work, serving as the assistant corresponding secre- 
tary. She was also elected a delegate to the third General Executive meeting, 
held in 1872 in New York City, and in 1882 was elected to the presidency. 
Mrs. Nind traveled extensively from the Mississippi to the Pacific and to 
many is the memory of her visit a holy benediction, as with towel and basin 
she helped the humble hostess in the tiny cabin of logs or on the platform 
of an annual conference held the preachers in rapt attention as she presented 
the need of heathen women. Later, when three branches were carved out of 
the great Western, she was chosen corresponding secretary of the Minneapolis 
branch and filled the office until 1888. In 1894, with Bishop and Mrs. Nind, 



208 Mary Clarke Nind 

" Mother Nind" visited Japan, China and India, and the interesting record 
of travels is preserved "In Journeying Oft," by Miss Baueus. 

Since then, while free from arduous, exacting official responsibility, Mrs. 
Nind has redoubled her diligence in righteous undertakings and counted all 
toil for the Master a precious privilege. The increase of years served to 
mellow and enrich the beauties and spirit which won for her the non-trans- 
ferable title Mother Nind. Her tender, devout heart seemed to possess the 
infinite extension of worship and love. 

Joy, larger than happiness, was hers. In work, co-operating with God, she 
found joy however lowly or monotonous the task, and this joyous spirituality 
was of the sort that sees God in common things and shows God in the common 
tasks. So her life moved always unfalteringly forward, neither diverted by 
pleasures nor daunted by perplexities or difficulties. It was enough for this 
dear disciple that she be as her Master. How strong, peaceful and deeply 
joyful her life, because sacramental; and thus continually lived "in memory 
of Jesus. ' ' The central current of her w hole being was her deep determination, 
like that of her Christ, to do the will of our Father. So vigorous was her 
Christian living it cannot be interrupted by death. "Sacred places or times 
have no superior advantage for the dying." Sacredness is in the motive of 
the heart that would do everything unto the Lord. To her, every place was 
hallowed ground, for everywhere she would sing, "Oh, Thou in whose presence 
my soul takes delight." "As heaven is still the glad doing of God's will, 
where can there be any interruption by the transition of a moment?" Her 
life, a transition of years, reaches out in a sweet, tender story for, always to 
be continued, never to be concluded are the life and love that are founded in 
Jesus Christ. Of all her rare qualities of mind and heart, perhaps no one 
stands out more clearly than her marvelous, strong hope. It seems to be the 
basis of her potency in reaching human hearts and lives. It stimulated her 
zeal; made her undaunted in courage; supplied her with abounding cheer; 
gave her sustained eagerness for soul progress; added contagion to her 
enthusiasm, and made her contact with other lives instinct with vital energy. 

Hers was a large soul, so filled with love that she would always attend to 
small things as well as great, and "unveil the grace of gentleness in kindly 
deeds, however humble." Her real life is so great, so deathless, that the time 
and manner of her embarking on the tideless sea are closed up on the far- 
away shore lines where sorrow and sighing flee away forever, when the 
redeemed of the Lord reach home. 

THINE. 
"Whose eye foresaw this way? 

Not mine. 
Whose hand marked out this day? 
Not mine. 



Tributes by Organizations 209 

A clearer eye than mine, 

'Twas Thine. 
A wiser hand than mine, 

'Twas Thine. 
Then let my hand be still 

In Thine. 
And let me find my will 

In Thine."— M. D. B. 
With loving memories from childhood's hours this tribute is affectionately 
submitted. 

Grace Foster Herben. 

Adopted at the Session of the Foochow Conference held October 18-25, 1905. 

The older members of this conference will recall with pleasure and affec- 
tion the work of faith and labor of love of Mrs. Mary C. Nind at the confer- 
ence session of 1894, and afterwards in various parts of the conference. 
Therefore it seems most fitting, on hearing of her translation, that the following 
resolutions should be adopted: 

Whereas, It has pleased the Father of all good to take unto Himself our 
beloved sister, Mrs. Mary C. Nind, we, the members of the Foochow Annual 
Conference, desire to express our high appreciation of her work, not only while 
in our midst, but during all these years of long service on behalf of the 
missionary cause; also our sense of personal loss in her passing away, and our 
deep sympathy and earnest prayers for her daughter, Mrs. Lacy, of our 
mission, and the other members of her family. May the fragrant memory of 
Mrs. Nind's life be as healing balm to their sorrowing hearts, and may the 
glorious hope of a reunion hereafter be an inspiration to all of us to renewed 
zeal in the Master's service. 

Adopted by the New England Branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary 

Society. 
Whereas, Our beloved mother in Israel, Mrs. Mary C. Nind, spent the last 
few months of her life within the bounds of this branch and gave to us her 
last public service; 

Resolved, That we mourn with the bereaved family and extend to them and 
to her fellow workers, who have so long received the inspiration from her royal 
leadership, our heart-felt sympathy. We rejoice in her instant translation. 
The chariot of fire came for the Lord 's prophetess to bear her into the presence 
of the Lord God of Hosts, for the coming of whose unending kingdom she so 
ardently labored. 

Sarah C. Legg. 
Clementina Butler. 
Mary L. Mann. 



210 Mary Clarke Nind 

Mary F. Hamblin, secretary of the County Street Auxiliary of 
New Bedford, Mass., in reporting the action of that association, 
said: "We recall with much appreciation the very earnest and 
interesting missionary address which Mrs. Nind gave to our aux- 
iliary when in New Bedford, and feel that in her death the society 
has sustained a great loss." 

Mrs. W. M. Stevenson, corresponding secretary of the Meridian 
Street Auxiliary, Indianapolis, wrote of the action of that body: 
"No one in the society was held in higher esteem or was more 
dearly loved than this dear woman." 

Mrs. S. E. Atkinson, corresponding secretary of the Wyandotte 
Auxiliary of Wyandotte, Mich., reporting the action of that auxil- 
iary, said : "She was very dear to many hearts in Wyandotte, and 
we can never forget her cheerful, willing spirit in our mission work. 
Her faith and her prayers have been an inspiration to us as a society 
to do better work along this line." 

Many other similar expressions which have not come to the at- 
tention of the authors of this work were undoubtedly adopted by the 
various organizations which mother had upon different occasions 
addressed. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

A SERMON BY MARY CLARKE NIND 

Eev. xxii., 17. — "And the Spirit and the Bride say come, and let him that 
heareth say come, let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will let him take 
of the water of life freely. ' ' 

* This precious book abounds with invitations, it is decked with 
grand and glorious invitations free and full ; but it seems to me this 
one I have just read is the best of them all ; as if the Holy Ghost 
had wound up the blessed truths of the gospel and had put the best 
at the last, and given to us one so full and free, so bright, so deep, 
that everyone might feel they were included in it, and that it was 
meant especially for them. I have thought sometimes this wonder- 
ful gem was the rarest of all, and of all the grand stars that shine in 
the firmament this one was the first in magnitude. Listen to it 
again ! "And the Spirit and the Bride say come, and let him that 
heareth say come, let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will 
let him take of the water of life freely." Oh! that we all might 
accept this blessed invitation with all our hearts, as it comes from 
the great Teacher himself. 

The first question suggested by the text is, "Who is the Spirit 
that says to us, come?" and we answer, "It is the Holy Spirit," 
that same Spirit we read of in the early parts of Scripture, where it 
says my Spirit was with you; that Spirit which was given to the 
inspired ; that Spirit which lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world ; it is that Spirit about which Christ said, "Tarry ye at Jeru- 
salem until ye be endowed with power from on high;" and they 
waited and were all endowed with the Holy Ghost. As they waited, 
it came if you remember, as a mighty rushing wind; and they all 
spake with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance, and 
Peter now preached repentance to all. That same Spirit has been 

* Preached in Loughton Chapel, L oughton, England, Sunday afternoon, 
May 21, 1876. 



212 Mary Clarke Nind 

moving on the hearts of men and children, and every one of you 
here have felt this power, have heard its voice, listened to its whisper ; 
all have heard it in thundering tones. There is not anyone here this 
day who can say earnestly he has never heard or felt the Spirit's 
influence, for that Spirit is given to every one of you. You have 
felt and heard that Spirit moving in your childhood's days. I can 
remember when we were little children how we were told of the 
Savior's Cross, of Bethlehem's Manger, and of Bethany's Mount, 
how often did our little hearts grow tender, and the whispering 
Spirit said to us, Come ! Come ! Come ! But as in childhood's days 
we listened to the faithful Sabbath school teacher's earnest tones, 
how the Holy Spirit whispered to us, Come! Come! Come! When 
dark clouds gathered in our habitation and some sickened and died, 
or when our hearts bowed with sorrow, we heard the blessed Spirit 
say, "Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you 
rest ;" or when in the giddy maze of pleasure we have tried to forget 
the pleadings of the Spirit and drown the voice of that Spirit, that 
voice has been heard saying, Come ! Come ! Come ! 

If I talk about this, this afternoon, you may hear the Spirit 
calling you. There's a wondrous meaning in that word Come; 
there is a wonderful pathos and tenderness about it; it is from the 
loving voice of Jesus. Oh ! how often that word fell from his lips, 
but never in sweeter tones than in the verse I have just read. He 
said, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I 
will give you rest." Oh, that you may hear His precious voice this 
Sabbath day as it says to all here gathered, Come! Come! Come! 
But not only does the Spirit say Come, but the Bride says Come. 
And who is the Bride? The Church is the Bride. "Come!" said 
one of the Angels to John when he was on the Isle of Patmos, "I 
will show you the Bride." By giving this invitation we are made 
co-workers together with the Holy Spirit in the salvation of men. 

She is saying to all, Come! Come! Come! Every father and 
mother ought to be saying to their children, Come ! Come to Jesus ; 
and to every faithful Sabbath school teacher let me say, you are, I 
trust, saying to your classes every Sabbath, Come ! Come ! Come to 



A Sermon by Mary C. Nind 213 

Jesus. In the home, in the shop, in the street, or wherever you find 
one unsaved, it is your duty, your privilege as a Christian to say 
Come ! Come ! Come to Jesus ; you are unworthy of the name you 
bear if you are afraid, as you have opportunities, to say to those 
about you, Come! Come! Come to Jesus, the Spirit and the Bride 
say Come. 

All you that have come to Jesus can know the joys of salvation. 
If that joy is in your hearts you cannot be still, you cannot see your 
neighbors and friends rushing down to ruin, you cannot be a Chris- 
tian and be inactive and unconcerned, or neglect to lift your voice 
and say Come ! Come ! Come to Jesus. Oh ! that God may breathe 
upon all here today the Spirit of earnest labor for souls, and fill your 
hearts with intense desire that you may everywhere be heard to 
invite souls to Jesus. 

I remember to have heard D. L. Moody say that he met a young 
man in the streets of Chicago and said to him, "Are you a Chris- 
tian ?" "That's none of your business," he replied. "But it is all my 
business." "Why, sir !" said the young man softening his tone, "you 
must be Mr. Moody." "I am, and I am seeking to save all the 
young men I can." My friends is it not your business ? It is mine, 
and is it not yours to seek and to save sinners and to give the blessed 
invitation, Come ! Come ! Come ! And therefore let him that heareth 
come and catch the glad sound, and send it along that all may hear 
the joyful news and accept it. I suppose this part of the text, "let 
him that heareth say Come," refers to the travelers crossing the 
sandy deserts of Arabia. They often gather themselves into com- 
panies, into fours and fives together. If the company in advance 
finds water they shout to those behind ; they then send word back, 
"water," and these would re-echo it to the company farthest in the 
rear, and they will then gather up fresh courage. You ought also 
to gather up fresh courage and come to the living waters and live. 
Let him that is athirst come, for there are thirsty souls everywhere. 
Everyone is athirst. As you walk up the streets of the crowded city 
it seems to be written on everyone's face — thirsty — thirsty. Every- 
one is seeking something; every day there is a continual thirst. 



214 Mary Clarke Nind 

What! is everybody thirsting for happiness? God intended that 
everybody should be happy, from the time he breathed into man's 
nostrils He intended we should be happy. He has written it on the 
works of His hands, — every bubbling stream, every bud, every leaf 
tells us, God is love ! Who can look on these beautiful hedges, who 
can look on these grand landscapes, who can cross the mighty 
ocean without seeing his richness everywhere? Then by his love 
he has made us to be happy ; he has purchased salvation for us that 
we may be happy. Everyone is athirst for happiness as the little 
child that finds the happiness in the playthings set before it. But 
where are you seeking this happiness ? Let him that is athirst come 
to the Savior and drink. But some of you are seeking to find this 
happiness and slake your thirst in streams where it cannot be found ; 
some will seek it in riches. "Oh, if I were only rich," says one, "I 
should be happy." "If I had all the luxuries of life, surely I should 
be happy." But there comes from millions of the wealthy the cry, 
"Happiness is not here." Some would seek it in friends gathered 
about them. Yes, the friends that earth can give possess attractions 
and charms very powerful, but all these do not bring happiness. 
Some would seek it in learning and books, in colleges, and halls of 
science. But the poor, weary student says, "Happiness is not here." 
Oh ! where is it to be found — can I not find it in pleasure ? Sinners ! 
it is not to be found in the dance and ball room, in the theater, in 
the opera, or in the giddy maze of pleasure. There comes from all 
those that seek it in such places the same sad words, "Happiness is 
not here." Let me ask all of you who have sought happiness in 
such places as these, if it is not so. 

A young woman who had been the gayest of the gay said to me 
that with all her gaiety and round of pleasures she was still 
unhappy. When she came to Christ and yielded her heart to the 
Savior, she said: "I have had more solid happiness these last two 
days than in all the former years of my life." And this testimony 
may be learned from a multitude, that you cannot find it in such 
places as these. You may seek the wide world o'er and you will 
never find it. This happiness can only be found when Jesus has 




CHILDREN OF MARY C. NIND 



1 J. Newton Nincl 
3 Emma Nincl Lacy 



2 Louisa M. Nincl 
4 George B. Nincl 



A Sermon by Mary C. Nind 215 

provided it ; it can only be found in the water of life which is freely 
given to all who ask for it. Jesus said to the woman, "It shall be in 
thee a well of water, springing up into everlasting life." There's 
where you may slake your burning thirst, here's where the thirst of 
your soul can only be met. Oh ! hear the voice of the Holy Spirit 
from the letter of the Prophet Isaiah. "Oh, everyone that thirsteth, 
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy 
wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye 
spend money for that which is not bread?" Oh, how many hours 
some of you have had in trying to find happiness where it can never 
be found, when, if you will come, you can satisfy your thirst in one 
short moment out of the wells of salvation. Oh, ye thirsty souls, 
come this afternoon and drink of the river of the water of life. But 
there is one word in this promise that makes it so grand and com- 
prehensive, it is the word — whosoever will, let him take of the water 
of life freely. Do you seek this privilege? In this word whosoever 
there is such height, width and breadth. Little children, you may 
come to Jesus, none of you are too young to come, the smallest of 
you, none are too young or too small. Young men and young 
women, in life's beautiful springtime, you may come as well as the 
hoary-headed sinner who has passed life's noon and turned away 
from this water, and has been drinking at the streams of sinful 
pleasure. You all may come, the rich, the poor, the young, the old, 
the educated and the illiterate, the monarch and the subject, the 
savage and the civilized, the Marthas and the Marys, all may come. 
The proud blasphemer, the haughty Pharisee, all may come. From 
Africa, from Greenland, and from the islands of the sea, all may 
come. Whosoever will may come. The man who is on the brink 
of hell, if he will hear the voice, may come and take of the water 
of life freely. 

Some years ago in America, in the Sunday school in connection 
with Mr. Moody, I heard him tell a little incident which I shall 
never forget. He had gone down to the army with the Christian 
missions, whose duty it was to visit the camps and hospitals to 
scatter the seeds of the kingdom of heaven and seek to lead soldiers 



216 Mary Clarke Nind 

to the Savior, and it was his privilege to point a great many dying 
soldiers to the cross. One night when he had retired to rest, wearied 
with his labors, some one came to him saying, "There's a poor dying 
soldier in such a ward wants to see you ; will you come to see him ?" 
He said "Yes." He found his way to the dying soldier, who said, 
"Chaplain, in that book I have heard you read from so often, is 
there a promise for a dying soldier?" He then took out his book 
and read promise after promise, but to each one he said, "That does 
not mean me." He then got down upon his knees and prayed the 
Holy Spirit to light up the dying man's soul ; and he then opened at 
the third chapter of John and read from the 16th verse, "For God 
so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in Him " "Stop," said the soldier, read that 

again;" and he read it again, "For God so loved the world " 

He said, "That means me, whosoever, whosoever, whosoever, that 
means me — read it again." And he anchored on that word whoso- 
ever. Mr. Moody then bowed in prayer. Life was fast fading away 
and the lips were getting cold in death. Before he left him he heard 
the soldier in a whisper saying something. He put down his ear 
and heard him say ''whosoever" and he was gone. Have I talked 
this day to anyone who has neglected Christ, rejected his salvation, 
and spurned the offers of mercy? It has been presented to you by 
loving ministers and teachers. Whosoever will may take of the 
water of life freely. 

I have one word more before I have done ; forget not the word 
in the text, it is "whosoever" will. You can will to be saved, my 
friends; you can will to be lost, you can will to come to this water 
of life. The Savior will not force you to accept his mercy. Some 
of you have been rejoicing as you have drank and found it satisfied 
the longings of your soul ; some of you have been invited hundreds 
of times, but you have willed to turn away, willed to drink the 
streams of earthly care and business. Will you accept this invitation 
this day? Will you come to Christ today? He says Come, the 
Spirit says Come, the Bride says Come, I say to you Come. Why 
am I here this Sabbath afternoon? Not to gratify your curiosity. 



A Sermon by Mary C. Nind 217 

Only as the servant of Jesus. I am here because I love this salva- 
tion better than anything else; to live and work for Jesus is my 
mission here below. In the name of Jesus Christ, whose messages 
I bear, I offer to you Jesus Christ. Life ! Life ! ! Life ! ! ! Eternal 
Life he offers, will you come and accept it today ; if you do not you 
must perish, there is no other salvation except through Christ. 
Come to Jesus and be saved! Will you turn away to be lost? If 
the blessed Holy Spirit is here this day, may it help you to say / 
will, I will come. Amen. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE 

CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE, NOVEMBER 30, I905. 

How God awakened noble impulses in the hearts of some of His 
most honored servants, and how He brought influences to bear upon 
them in childhood which gave direction and success to their whole 
lives, will be ever a matter of interest to the students of Christian 
life and service. 

The following experiences reveal the secret of the useful life of 
the late Mrs. Mary C. Nind. This was her testimony at the great 
Missionary Convention in London in 1888, and by these earnest 
words she, being dead, yet speaketh. At a meeting devoted to the 
consideration of the subject of "Home Work for Missions" she 
said: 

"It is from a mother's standpoint that I want to speak. First, 
then, I am indebted to God for the great deal of missionary 
enthusiasm I have, so that I am sometimes called a missionary 
cyclone. It began with the instructions of my father and mother in 
this land, for I was born in this country, though now I am really an 
American. First, then, with regard to the instruction received. 
Early led to Christ — that is the great bottom, basal thought. Then 
the great truth taught that I must be all the Lord's, not a half 
Christian, but entirely His. Then instruction on great missionary 
themes in the home and around the family altar. Then I was taken 
to missionary meetings when I was very little, and sat on my 
mother's lap and listened to great missionary speeches, which I have 
not forgotten to this day. Then missionary literature was put into 
my hands. I never read a novel, except Harriet Beecher Stowe's 
Uncle Tom's Cabin; but before I was twelve years old I had read 
some religious books, such as Doddridge's Rise and Progress of 
Religion in the Soul, Baxter's Saint's Rest, and all Angell James's 



220 Mary Clarke Nind 

works. My first pastor was an exiled missionary from Madagascar, 
John Joseph Freeman. My mother used to invite to her home very 
often the six Malagasy refugees, at whose feet I almost adoringly 
sat, and listened to the recitals of their persecutions. 

"Then we were early taught to save our money from candies and 
superfluities of naughtiness, in order to put it into the missionary 
box. We saved the rags, we picked up the pins, for which we were 
paid, and we faithfully saved the old bones, so that we could sell 
them for missionary purposes. We dressed plainly and lived plainly, 
and the house was furnished plainly, in order that we might give 
more to the cause of Christ. That is good bringing up. I recom- 
mend it to all you mothers and all you fathers. Teach your children 
that they ought to save to give. Our immortal Wesley said, 'Get all 
you can' — of course he meant honestly and righteously — 'save all 
you can ; give all you can.* That is good doctrine. 

"The next thought is, teach your children that the great aim of 
life is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, and make the last, 
the enjoying Him forever, only the blessed end of gloriously living 
here. I do not care, I think, much about the 'hereafter/ but I 
taught my children as my mother taught me, to live for God and 
souls, and to find a niche in the great spiritual temple. We should 
be earnest, consecrated Christians, and go anywhere the Lord sends 
us. Some mothers teach their daughters that the great end of life 
is to marry a man with lots of money. That is a miserable doctrine. 
I am glad I was brought up on the Westminster Catechism, and 
that I am a Methodist. I do not believe in predestination, mind. 
I want to impress this upon you. First, get the children to Christ 
early. I was converted before I was five, and all my children before 
they were twelve. Secondly, get them to realize that their consecra- 
tion must be complete. Thirdly, attend to the divine call, whatever 
it is, and wherever it calls them. Then, let us feel that all our 
money is His. I desire to be known as a walking, living collection, 
gathering money for Christ, and I have brought all my children 
to feel that at least one-tenth of every dollar they have belongs to 
the Lord, and if He should ever give them abundance—I do not 



A Religious Experience 221 

know that He ever will — one-fifth. If we begin with enthusiasm, 
pray it at the family altar, live it every day, we shall not have so 
many stingy Christians as we have." 

With such principles there is no wonder that two of her children 
became missionaries — Mrs. William Lacy, of Shanghai, and the 
Rev. George B. Nind, of Madeira. She lived to help save the world 
and to spread missionary enthusiasm until her eightieth year. May 
the great Head of the Church raise up many such workers and 
many such mothers ! 



JAN 11 tW 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

021 897 321 8 



